


Rewritten

by TwoTeaspoonsOfSuga



Category: yoonmin - Fandom, 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Anal Sex, Anger, Angst, Are., BTS OT7, Bullying, But for Baby Hope, But they love him, Criminal Min Yoongi | Suga, Dishwasher Kim Namjoon, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, Falling In Love, Fluff, Frottage, Happy Ending, High School Student Jeon Jungkook, Hobi is the best Papa, Hope Is a Sweetheart, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Jimin in Panties, Jung Hoseok | J-Hope Needs a Hug, Jung Hoseok | J-Hope is a Sweetheart, Kim Namjoon | RM is a Sweetheart, Kim Taehyung | V & Park Jimin are Best Friends, Kisses, Kleptomania, Kleptomaniac Yoongi, Lace Panties, Lemon, Lingerie, Lonliness, Love, M/M, Min Yoongi | Suga Is Whipped, Min Yoongi | Suga Is an Idiot, Min Yoongi | Suga is Bad at Feelings, OT7, Of a MINOR CHARACTER DON'T WORRY, Or they were?, Original Character(s), Piano Shop Owner Jin, Piano Teacher Min Yoongi | Suga, Possibly Unrequited Love, Reunited and It Feels So Good, Rimming, Sad Jung Hoseok | J-Hope, Sadness, Shop owner Jin, Shy Jeon Jungkook, Single Parent Jung Hoseok | J-Hope, Slice of Life, Slow Burn, Smoking, Stockings, Supernatural - Freeform, Taekook Duet, They all need hugs, Time Travel, Time Travel AU, University Student Kim Taehyung | V, Until Jimin comes along, Weirdness Afoot, Yoongi is misunderstood, Yoongi is sorta an asshole, Yoonmin Smut, Yoonmin angst, Yoonmin fluff, alternate time lines, badboy yoongi, blowjob, or are they?, past relationship, piano player yoongi, time traveler jimin, visions?, you get me - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-25
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:34:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 59,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24377329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwoTeaspoonsOfSuga/pseuds/TwoTeaspoonsOfSuga
Summary: Yoongi is a petty criminal with a passion for piano. One day, after breaking into his local music store, he finds himself being watched by a beautiful boy in the rain. He starts to see him everywhere, and he confronts him. His name is Park Jimin, and in an alternate universe, they were lovers. That was... until Yoongi's life was taken by a drunk driver. Desperate to feel Yoongi's love once more, Jimin travels to and alternate time line to reunite with his lost love. Now he has... his mission is clear; he has to make Yoongi fall in love with him once more or at the very least, save him from himself.
Relationships: Jung Hoseok | J-Hope/Kim Seokjin | Jin, Kim Namjoon | RM/Kim Taehyung | V, Min Yoongi | Suga/Park Jimin
Comments: 32
Kudos: 89





	1. A Ripple In Time

Yoongi's life as ever  unravelled too quickly, like a frayed stream of ribbon wound too tightly around it's coil, the sands of time were slipping rapidly through his shaking hands and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

You see, he was Ember Man, on the surface he was burning... too hot to touch and to wild to love. But behind the mask he wore each day he was as fragile as a  wisp and crumbling all the while; the frail veil of the man he could be if he'd give himself half a chance. 

But there was  always that voice, that niggle in the back of his  conscious mind that screaming 'you can be more'. He'd douse that voice with booze and cigarettes, because no matter how he saw himself, the world would always see him the same. An  outcast and a  thief , stealing food, money and hearts to break.

The man rolled out of bed the morning his world changed and started it as he did any other day. With his head pounding and empty bottle of vodka on his nightstand. He groaned and rubbed his eyes to will his blurred vision into focus, blinking up into the single spangle of sun that had snaked its way between the gap in the net curtains, dust weaving its way  through the column of light from the railing to his toes.

As always  Yoongi grabbed the first sweater he lay his hands upon, something slate or grey to cover the art and the script etched in ink over his  porcelain skin. He pulled on his jeans and his  beat-up docs and left his dingy one room flat shoving a pack of menthol cigarettes in his top pocket. 

He blinked at Hoseok's door as he passed by. He wondered if Hope was already gone to school, he hoped that her father was using this rare day off to rest. Jung Hoseok was one of the very few men he could say that he'd given any respect. A man who had been given the lot in life that he did and still stood by his child with a smile on his face...respect was the least he could give him. But he'd never admit it aloud.

His hand patted the wall as he passed, a gesture of good will, and he ventured down the winding stairs onto the streets.

The world was eerie at this hour, the sun was stark, just coming up over the mountains, the vendors lazily stocked their stalls with produce and the air still carried in  its arms, the chill of the night just passed.

Yoongi was on the early shift this week, and so he took to back alleys to avoid growing crowds, as was the usual. However, this is where the day started to turn. The growl of a group of  adolescents came from the end of the alley way by the GS25 Store. 

"Where's my father's money, buck teeth?"

Yoongi froze and backed up a little, watching the scene unfold with a morbid curiosity. The thin boy with the wide eyes opened his mouth but stuttered. "I-I-I.."

"St-st-stutter much?" the taller, broader boy sneered, his friends jeering as he the younger took a blow to his stomach and whimpered. "Tell your father he's got three days."

Yoongi blinked, something stirred within him, that same niggling in his brain. But he instead of acting on it, he plucked a cig from his packet, took it between his lips and lit it before he strolling away.

That kid  wasn't his problem. 

When he  re-emerged from the back street to enter the  restaurant for work, he passed his  all-time favourite store on that  Highstreet .

He pressed his palm to the side window and stared into the piano shop longingly. Of all  grand pianos in all the glossy paints, the one that caught his eyes was a  beat-up brown piano, pushed up against the left side of the room and piled with thick books teaming with music. He rounded the building to the shop front to get a better look. He missed they feeling of the keys beneath his  fingertips . What he'd give for that piano to be back in his hands again.

From the back of the store a man not much older him stumbled from stockroom, tall, handsome and piles of sheet music in hand. Their eyes met briefly, but Yoongi quickly scarpered, cheeks stained pink with shame. He tossed his cigarette to ground still lit and darted through the doors of Gnammy Italia with his head low.

The sun streamed in from the  French style windows and the leaves of hanging plants stained the white stone emerald with their sunlit  silhouettes . It was empty  of course; every booth and clothed table would be abandoned until it hit 8am and the morning rush had begun. 

"You're late." 

Yoongi rolled his eyes at the  taller as he took his punch card from the slot behind the register. "What's that to you, you  ain't my..."

"I already punched you in." he  murmured .  Yoongi met his eyes, his own still narrowed. He dropped his card back into the slot. 

"Yeah, well I never asked you to." he grumbled. The younger shrugged his broad shoulder a little side smile dimpling his cheeks. 

"Well I'm just that  kind-hearted . The first breakfast order is here...I'd avoid Chef. She's on a rampage." 

The elder scowled and as his phone  buzzed, he lifted it up to his eyes. 

Taehyung Calling...

Yoongi mumbled incoherently under his breath, snatched the paper bag from redwood counter and scurried out the fire exit to his waiting moped. The busboy rolled his eyes almost fondly as he left. That man was his own worst enemy.

"Namjoon!" Chef Chaerin called from kitchen. Her voice shrill enough to shatter the glass case and cover the cheesecakes in shards. 

"Coming!" he called, tripping over the boxed breadsticks and his own feet on the way.

/

Yoongi spent most of the day forcing himself to care about temperature of the lasagne and how many tubs of garlic sauce were in the bags with the orders. By the time it hit 11am, he was barley awake, ravenous and on his fourteenth cigarette of the day.

His lunch break gave him time to breath and had him  venturing downtown to  Keopi Keopi , where they served strong, cheap coffee and sandwiches that were free after your fifth cup.

He made his way there is such a blind hunger, that he never  noticed the lump huddled outside the piano store.

Thud.

"What the fuck, idiot! Why hell are you on the damn fl-"

His breath caught in his throat as his gaze was met by the most beautiful, sparkling pair of amber eyes. The boy, he presumed was a  vagabond . Dirty, messy, curled under a thin blanket. And though the sky was grey above them and it looked like clouds may burst any second, that boy was lined with a halo like light. It was warm and he glowed under that light like an earthbound star. 

What's more, he looked at Yoongi like he'd seen an angel.

Yoongi shook that silly thought from his mind and walked straight past him, refusing to look back and growling something along lines of 'stupid kid'. But even as he arrived at  Keopi Keopi , something in the back of mind shimmered like a mirage. That pretty, mucky face burned into his retina. He saw it  every time he closed his eyes against the coming  migraine .

"Same as usual?" Jackson hummed as Yoongi approached the till, rubbing his forehead.

"Make it a double." he grumbled. Jackson sighed and poured him up a double shot of  espresso for his ice coffee. "Why is it so fucking bright in here?"

"You know," he murmured pushing the cup toward him and bending down to grab his bulgogi panini and wrap it up. "To avoid  migraines , one should probably drink water instead of  caffeine and booze."

"I don't think I asked your opinion." he growled glaring at him as threw his cash down onto the marble and turned to leave with his panini. 

He was met by amber eyes as soon as he turned. They were now  accompanied by the most tender of smiles. He was shining...why was he shining, when outside those doors, a storm had just swept over Daegu and was flooding the streets with  its downpour.

He approached in with his shoulders squared. "Are you fucking following me?"

The younger tilted his head his lashes fluttering and pooling as if he were on the verge of tears, though the smile still curving his lips spoke  differently . The idea the boy bursting into tears had  Yoongi tense.

The elder spoke again: "Look I don't have the money to spare so just..."

The younger shook his head. "I  don't want money." he whispered, such an awe laced in his  feather light tone,  it set  Yoongi on edge.

"Why're you looking at me like that?"

The younger nodded, running his hand through his dark locks and pushing them back off his face. " Of course, ... you wouldn't know it here."

Yoongi shook his head. "Listen I  aint got the money and if I  did, I've got rent to pay.  So, leave me the fuck alone." he warned. Pushing his way past the younger and leaving him in  KeopiKeopi , that tender expression still awash over his face pretty little face.

/

The last delivery of his shift was at 14:42 and was not far from his apartment, meaning he could be home as Hobi and Hope returned from Kindergarten. As he gathered the copious bags from the counter, his phone buzzed, unattended against the wood and Namjoon caught the name flashing up on the screen.

_ Taehyung Calling... _

He came back to collect it and groaned switching it to silent. Namjoon sighed. "He's just worried about you Yoongi."

"I'm sure he's just terrified for me in his fancy little student  quarters all payed for with his Daddy's money."

"He drove all the way here last week just see if you were okay and you avoided him like the  plague . He's your cousin."

"So what?"

" So, he's family...and even if the rest of your family is..."

"It's got  absolutely nothing to do with you. Keep your damn nose out of my  business Namjoon before I really  lose my temper." he snapped. Namjoon held up his hands in surrender as he crashed out the door and down the fire escape.

Yoongi drove a little too fast that day, Namjoon's word and that  vagabonds' eyes knotting his stomach and pushing his mind into overdrive.

/

Yoongi climbed the stairs to the seventh floor with  iron arms and cinderblock legs, his whole body screaming out for sleep.

Then he heard the jangle of keys and the purest of giggles and his face despite his exhaustion lit up.

"Hopey?"

The little girl with a smile like sunshine beamed at the delivery driver like the Cheshire Cat himself and Hobi chuckled as she bounded into his arms almost knocking him flat onto his back. "YOOFIE!"

"Hello trouble." he snorted as he lifted her from the ground. "Have you been good at school today?"

"Uhuh!"

"Promise?" he held out his  pinkie .

She linked her tiny chubby little finger with his. "Pwomise."

" Hopey counted to  ten today didn't you?" Hobi rasped, and  Yoongi didn't miss the dark circles under his eyes. 

The little girl nodded her hair bouncing with the motion. "Mrs Win said I was the cleverest at it!" 

"Course you are." Yoongi whispered tickling her chin. "Uncle Yoofie taught you."

He saw a little of the light die behind Hobi's eyes. "I'm missing it." he murmured.

"You're working hard to keep your little girl fed." Yoongi corrected. "I can have her tonight if you haven't slept."

Hobi shook his head. "No. .. I missed her." he took her back from  Yoongi and nuzzled her neck as he smoothed down her little tutu skirt. "You're all mine and  imma eat you for tea."

"Dada no!" she  squealed . 

Yoongi eyed them both, but looked at Hope as he spoke to Hoseok. "Make sure you eat well tonight. Or come over there and I'll make you." he murmured and he booped Hope's button nose. "And you be good for Papa or I'll tickle you till you pee."

She stuck her tongue out at him cheekily and he snorted. He nodded to Hobi, a little wooden and Hobi nodded back as the elder ducked into his apartment.

The door clicked shut behind him and the sound echoed into a  stomach-turning silence. Ah...here he was again. Alone

The  loneliness rippled and ripped through his chest painfully. But for some strange reason, the hole left inside of him seemed a little less substantial this time around. That thought alone left him floating, had his nerve ending as trigger happy as a live wire. He  briefly thought about calling on a guy, fucking himself drunkenly to sleep instead of being pulled into another pointless spiral.

But something stopped him that night. A blockade on his way to the cliff edge. He, instead, for the first time in months, took his vodka to his room with his notebook and he wrote fifteen pages of lyrics like it was nothing. And he stared at the page of messy scrawl afterwards, dazed by both the rush of his creation and by the  alcohol that dulled his senses. He lay there on his mattress on the floor and stared up at the ceiling completely naked.

And he dreamed.

He imagined a  blurred-out figure wrapped around his waist and tucked into the crook of his neck. He imagined a plush set of lips brushing kisses to his sternum, from the roses on left to the tiger on right. He let himself dream. Even in his world of struggle and pain. Even just for that moment. He dreamt of a world where he was content.

/

Outside his apartment block, a figure huddled under the flood light and waited for him to awaken from his stupor. He was the boy who would wait for him forever.


	2. Pushing Waves Out Into The Universe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Yoongi struggles to pay his rent, Tae and Joon get on Yoongi's nerves, the amber eyed angel helps him on his journey and is hurt in the process and little Hope is worried for her Papa and so asks Yoongi for help.

Yoongi was roused from his slumber, this time not by the sun, but by the pounding of his landlord's fists against his door.

_ "YOONGI! MIN YOONGI! I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE, BRAT! COME OUT AND FACE ME LIKE A MAN!" _

Yoongi's eyes fluttered open, the room filled with dust and dawn and the rest of the world quiet in stark contrast. It rattled him. He slunk from the sheets, surrounded by the lyrics, sprawled and screwed up in little paper balls around him.

He crawled to the door from behind the folded screen, for the simple reason that he didn't want to be caught in the line of Minyoung's beady eyes through the peephole. When he arrived there, he turned his back to the wood and waited with his knees to his chest, waited for the pounding to cease and the foot fall the wander far from his threshold.

But then came the second voice, groggy from a broken dream.  _ " _ _ Minyoung _ _?" _ Hobi grumbled.  _ " _ _ Wha-Wha's _ _ going on?" _

_ "Papa?"  _ Shit,  Yoongi realised, that asshole had woken Hope up too. He pressed his ear to the door and prayed  Minyoung would just go and leave them all be.

_ "Shh, it's okay, baby..." _

_ "Ah,  _ _ Hoseok _ _ -ah, I apologise for waking you both. It's just that this little  _ _ sh _ _ -" _

_ "How much money does he owe to you?"  _ Yoongi bowed his head, his ears burning red from the shame.

_ " _ _ Hoseok _ _..." _

_ "How much?" _

_ "I... This month's rent. And a  _ _ quarter _ _ of the last." _

_ "Okay... I'll get my wallet...he can pay me back when he-" _

But by then, Yoongi has had scrambled to his feet, heart in freefall, and he's yanked the door open with a scowl.

"Unca Yoofie! 

"Are you insane, Hoseok?!"

"I just..."

"You can't afford that!"

"But Yoongi, you..."

"Look."  Yoongi snapped at  Minyoung , a burning glare cast in his direction. "I get payed in a few  days' time . I'll pay you then in full. Just stop waking working men and scaring little girls."

"Working men."  Minyoung scoffed. "I assume you could only be talking of  Hoseok . You really think you can pay me in full with how many days you couldn't be bothered to roll out of your pit? I could smell cigarettes and  disappointment from upstairs."

Yoongi rolled his eyes, but  Minyoung prodded his fingers in toward his chest. "You get cocky boy, but I already have another  tenant lined up, and if you don't pay up by Friday, you're out."

The revelation had Yoongi frozen as Minyoung stormed his way back up the stairs, like cold egg wash, flooding his skin like a thousand tiny needs. 

"Papa?" Hope's gentle voice, cracked and wobbled as she spoke. "Does Unca Yoofie have to go?"

His heart dropping like a stone in his chest, Yoongi turned back into his apartment. Hobi moved toward him, Hope still clung to his hip. "Yoongi..."

"I'm fine."

"But you do-"

"It's fine."

With the click of the door, Yoongi shut the world out, his forehead pressed to cheap wood in despair and his eyes burning as he fought back the tears that threatened to break free.

/

The amber eyed angel, waited from morning to noon for his man to emerge. He waited patiently from the distance,  shielded by the shade of a sycamore tree.

Finally, at 16:43,  Yoongi emerged, looking healthy but a little worse for wear with a backpack slung over his right shoulder. The elder paused at the doorstep and amber eyes smiled.  Yoongi bent to scoop the tiny cluster of bluebells and  daisies he'd left for him with a note:

_ Yoongi _ _ , _

_ I hope you slept soundly, eat well today and work hard! _

_ Fighting, _

_ -J _

Yoongi sighed, holding the boquet up to his eyes and rolling the stems between his thumb and four fingers. Another note from some girl or guy he fucked too well, another note from a fling who had promised not to fall for him but had barefaced lied and caught feelings regardless.

He tossed the boquet to bushed and screwed up the note in his fist. Amber eyes watched from afar as he discarded that too, the angel's breath knocked from his lungs as the pain hit like punch in the gut...it was so sudden he doubled over.

Crouched in the dirt, he watched Yoongi leave, cigarette poised between his pouting lips and despite his hurt, there was fire flickering in his gut. A fierce determination.

Min Yoongi would love him once more. He would.

He would...

/ 

Yoongi passed the GS25 like he did every day, and even at this time, when the schools were just letting out, that kid was there, and by then he'd already become a bully's punching bag.

Yoongi wondered  briefly as he stubbed out his cigarette why he kept coming back this way. Why he couldn't take the long way home to avoid them altogether. It frustrated him for reasons he couldn't fathom yet, that niggle that kept screaming and put him on edge.

But the thought quickly faltered and his eye was caught the spangle of silver on a stall front. Suddenly his heart was racing. Almost as if he'd fallen in love, whatever that was...he's fallen in love or he was being chased down by a hooded  assailant . He  couldn't really decipher which anymore. He wanted those mirrors, he...he needed them. He needed them...

For rent.

He could sell them for rent...and if he stayed Hope would be happy and he could have her when Hoseok needed this rest. Yes... yeah, he needed them. He needed them before they were gone.

Before he knew it, with his vision  tunnelled , he breezed straight past the boy huddled on the floor and out into the hustle and bustle of the markets.

As the first store owner bent down to gather the windchimes,  Yoongi swiped the golden antique from table and tucked it into his bag as he walked. The second woman had left his clients cash on the table as she left to print him a  receipt . He ducked under the arms of a deliver driver and took it too, tucking it into his back pocket swift as they come. 

He danced nimbly from stall to stall,  swiping lighters, shoes, belt buckles and more and by the time he arrived at  Gnammy , his bag was clattering and bulging at the seams. He threw it back onto his back and pressed his lips together, his heart beat finally evened out. 

But for some reason, he couldn't lift his head. Couldn't hold it high with pride. He was only able to look up when the soft clumsy fall of piano keys, trickled into the street from the piano store. He turned his eyes and found a little boy perched by the piano.

By his piano... the handsome man beside him, tickling the ivories till they gleamed, and the  boy's parents looked on as they played, proud as punch, smiling from ear to ear.

Yoongi's heart fluttered in his chest.

He was taken with a yank back to his childhood, to  the day  Taehyungie was presented with his piano as if it belonged to him now instead. His parents doted and cooed as his chubby little fingers fumbled the notes, and when  Yoongi had approached his cousin to correct them, they had swatted his palms and sent him away. That piano was the last slither of hope and in that moment, the hope was torn from his heart.

And now before him, just as he thought there was little, even a inch of it left, this boy and his happiness had him wanting to bust through the doors and tear him away, just to have this one thing to be his forever.

Hands  shaking, he almost did just that, he almost sunk to his lowest level yet. But... "Those hand mirrors were really beautiful, huh?"

Yoongi's eyes snapped to the right, and the amber eyed vagabond blinked back, as annoyingly pretty as ever. "What?"

"The hand mirrors, with the pretty gold trim, hand  crafted, I think? The ones in your bag right now. They must be very expensive. They were so pretty up close."

Yoongi's stomach rolled. "You were watching me."

It was a  statment rather than a question this time and the  dark-haired beauty nodded, playing with the hem of his hoodie, all shy. "Mm, I did..."

"I just..."

"I won't tell. Don't worry. I won't tell them." 

The younger left him with a sheepish smile dragging his own little backpack behind him. With a strange sting,  Yoongi noted that he looked weaker than before, his bones seemed to creak like they'd rusted. A shiver weaved its way down his spine, but he shrugged it off and he ducked into  Gnammy Italia with a huff.

That boy was showing up far too often.

/

Chaerin's eyes nearly popped out her skull as Yoongi dumped his backpack by the coat rack five minutes early.

"What, did you shit the bed? Min Yoongi is early?"

"I can go the fuck home if you're gonna die from the shock." 

"But then I couldn't bask in all your glory." she cooed, waving her spatula at the waiting order on the pass as the pan sizzled, and she tossed the prawn linguini. "The next two orders. You better hurry before it gets cold."

As Yoongi growled and gathered them from the counter, his gaze met Namjoon's briefly, the younger flushed suspiciously pink and his eyes flickered away immediately.

With a strange feeling in his gut Yoongi left for the fire escape, he pushed the bar down with his butt and used his hip to shove it open.

He was met  immediately by a pair of chocolate orbs and a bright, hopeful smile. " Yoongi -Hyung! Ah, it's so good to see you I've not seen your face in..."

"Taehyung, what the fuck do you think you're doing."

The younger's thick, dark lashes fluttered and he wrung his hands together nervously. "I know but... you wouldn't answer my calls and I just..."

"There might be a reason for that."  Yoongi whispered, eyes dark as he  descended the back steps. "I don't want to speak to you."

The fire escape door clanged as Namjoon pushed it open and it ricocheted from the brick wall. And with wild corcern bubbling behind the busboy's eyes, it suddenly clicked in Yoongi's mind. "You..." he laughed, short and mirthless. "You set this up didn't you?"

"Yoongi...you were burning yourself out, and Taehyung was worried, we both were. We just thought you could use..."

"I'm grown man, I  don't need you to decide was best for me." he spat. "I thought told you to keep your damn nose out of my  business ."

"Yoongi it's not his fault. It was me, I just..."

"You." Yoongi growled, his eyes burning and scorching into Tae's as he turned to him. "You do not have the first clue what it is like to suffer. Don't come here again."

"Yoongi, please." Tae begged, his eyes wide and puppy like as Yoongi shoved the deliveries into his travel box and hopped onto his bike without another word. "Yoongi just tell me that you're okay and..."

But Tae's words were lost behind the rev of his engine and Yoongi tore out the alley way before either man could blink.

Namjoon sighed and clutched the hand railing tight. "Tae, I'm sorry..."

"No..." the younger assured, forcing a smile onto his face. "At least I got to see him in one piece. He hard to crack. We both knew that."

/

Yoongi was sporting a  trigger-happy temper for the rest of his shift, only softening  occasionally for the odd mother or her kids. By the time he got to order #42, he was about ready the catapult the penne into his face.

The man who answered the door wore a yellow roll neck sweater, set off with his yellow blonde hair. His nose was a little hooked to boot, he reminded  Yoongi somewhat of a parakeet. 

"Tomato penne, small vino, paid by card?"

The man's eyes scanned him up and down and he leant with his arms crossed against the doorframe. "Hmm, I take it you've come as my desert."

Yoongi had to admire his guts, to say he was bold was an  understatement . "Are you  gonna take your food or..."

"Or maybe you can get me started, huh? My little appetiser." the man smirked.

Yoongi stared at him expressionless, he blinked once, twice, and pushed him into his hallway without a word, pressing him up against full length mirror by the door. "On your knees." Yoongi whispered, and the man fell to them as he ordered, licking his lips like the meal hadn't been thrown onto the dresser.

Yoongi unbuttoned his jeans and let the other pull them down to his ankles. The mouth around his dick and a head bobbing between his legs wasn't bad at all. But nor could he say that it blew his mind.

He closed his eyes and attempted to lose himself in the wet warmth. A bad move.

As soon as those lashes fluttered shut, there was that flash of amber eyes and the most pure and angelic of smiles bloomed like a  polaroid under blue light. 

Suddenly, two minutes in, his hands were in the other's hair, and he was pulling him from his cock  unceremoniously .

"Hmm! What?" the guy gasped, wiping the spit from his lips with his sleeve as Yoongi pulled up his pants and zipped them shut. "What's wrong?"

"None of your buisness."

The man scoffed stumbling to his feet and  attempting to look haughty in return. "Maybe if you didn't have a stick up your ass."

"Maybe if you didn't suck like a drowning trout." Yoongi snapped. He took the bag from the dresser and shoved it into his chest. "Enjoy your food Big Bird." 

He slammed the door behind him, leaving his customer seething and covered in tomato sauce.

/

Later that evening, as he left from his shift, was a little yakgwa cookie, wrapped in plastic and placed on his seat from the bakery across the way. On the front in white icing, was a little message in cursive.

"For your smiles. Today and always."

Yoongi sighed and pushed it into the side pocket of his bag. Whoever it was, at least they'd graduated now to free sweets and snacks. To something he could use.

/

Yoongi's legs were jelly that night, and he almost had to crawl up the stairs to his apartment, sweat on his back and his eyes so heavy he could barely keep them on the road ahead. When he got to his floor, he slumped against the wall, ready to drop altogether.

With Tae still ringing out his phone he almost tossed it against the wall in a rage, but a sniffle and little head of auburn hair caught his eye and stopped him in his tracks. 

"Hopey?" he whispered, switching off the phone and pushing it into his back pocket. "What are you doing out here at this time! It's dangerous here outside." he crouched before the younger and cupped her tear stained little cheeks. He thumbed the tears from the tender skin of her under eyes. "Hey, what's all this huh? Was it a bad dream?

Hope shook her tiny head, her lip pushed out in a pout. "Papa is crying. I heard him in his room."

Yoongi's heart splintered a little at her words and he gathered her up into his arms, her cheek pressed to his shoulder. "Yeah? I'm real sorry about that  Hopey , but y’know, sometimes even Papa cries."

"But why?" she whimpered.

"Because he wants to buy you toys and dresses and nice food and sometimes Papa can't do that no matter how hard he tries. He gets tired and sad about it sometimes thats all, like you get sad when you're sleepy too."

"I'll give all my toys to someone else so Papa will be happy."

Yoongi's breath caught in his chest and he pulled her back so he could dry her eyes. "You don't have to do that Hopey. I'll make it better okay. I'll make sure you and Papa are okay."

She sniffled but nodded "Love you, Unca Yoofie." 

And there it was, the reason he couldn't give up just yet.

"I-I love you too sweet girl... here." he reached into his bag and produced the little cookie in his palm. Her eyes lit up as he poured it into hers. "Eat this and ask Papa for some warm milk."

"Imma give Papa half!" she beamed, all watery eyes and toothy grin.

Yoongi nodded. "Good girl." he pushed the already cracked door open. "In you go now, and go give Papa some hugs." 

"Kay. Nanight Yoofie!"

"Night Hopey. Sleep well."

He closed to door quietly behind her and sighed at the tile. His mind was already reelin, a  thousand different ways he could help them stay afloat.

/

His mind didn't slow down even as the spray of the shower hit his ink covered back. He rolled his neck, attempting work out the kinks before he washed the shampoo down the drain.

Even after he was  clean, he let the water fall, warming his joints and relaxing each tense muscle. After, he perched on his couch in a simple pair of sweats, running a towel through his wet hair.

His eyes caught again on the shimmer of gold, that spilled from the backpack he dumped at the door.

Suddenly his rent money wasn't his  anymore .

He  reached  for his phone and belled his buyer  Sehun . " Sehun -ah, come to my apartment, tonight. I have a few things that might swing you a profit.

/

Hobi combed Hope's hair with his fingers as he pulled it up into her Minnie Mouse scrunchie in a ponytail. She was still this morning, too still. She hadn't even kicked up a fuss when she was forced into unfrosted flakes instead of frosted. It was almost as if she knew that he...

A clink of letter box had him dashing to the door without thinking. At this hour it wouldn't Minyoung, and all other post was kept downstairs. It could only, to his mind, be one person.

He burst through the door but the corridor was empty and when he peered down the stair case there was no one to be found. He sighed.  Again, he had missed her.

He swept the envelope from the welcome, tore it open to find half a  months' worth of rent folded inside. 

Tears burned at the corners of his eyes in relief and he sobbed a laugh as he unfolded the letter inside.

** " ** ** Hoseokie ** ** , **

** Look after our baby for me. I see how wonderfully she has  ** ** grown, it's ** ** all down to you. You've done so well  ** ** Hoseok ** ** , much better than I ever could. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry you have to do this alone. Tell Hope I love her lots. Give her hugs and kisses from Mama. **

** Look after yourself  ** ** Hoseok ** ** , she loves and needs you more every day. **

** Mirae  ** ** xoxox ** ** ” **

Hobi dabbed his tears with the sleeve of his suit. "Aish... how does she always know."

From across the hall, Yoongi sat with his ear to the door, as Hobi took his letter back inside. "Now rest well, pabo." he whispered as heard Hobi's door click shut.


	3. Pulling Him Onto The Shore

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Yoongi loses his hope and the Amber eyed angel is there to bring him home.

Yoongi had decided he'd walk to the first delivery one and a half days later, being that it was only a block or so away from where they were based. It was still quiet here, most of the world had not yet awoken from their sleep, and neither had  he, truth be told.

As he passed the GS25 on that same corner, he  remembered with a pang that he hadn't seen that boy who they beat here in two days. He wondered for a silent second if he was okay. 

He felt sick.

But he guessed that he'd hadn't eaten yet and that must be the cause.

Nevertheless, that niggle in his mind only grew stronger, as the sun rose to  its highest point in the sky, beating down on the back of his neck. Said niggle grew with each ringing of his phone by Taehyung. With each call, in mad moments of concern, his  mind would scream "IT'S HIM" and by noon...he was flat out worried.

For the first time in a long time, he felt concern and felt it for a boy he  didn't even know by name. 

Yoongi sighed, pushing back his mop of blonde hair as he tapped the red button on his cousin and turned off his phone all together. The delivery man rubbed at his round cheeks with the heels of his palms, as he ashenly turned to Namjoon, who'd been avoiding his gaze all morning. 

"Seeing as you're desperately concerned for my welfare." he grumbled. "You can ninja me some of the  tortellini for lunch..."

"  But you always get your lunch at..."

"Does it matter? You went behind my back, so now I think you owe me a favour."

Namjoon's shoulder's slumped, dejected. 

And there it was once again, that painful pang that he  couldn't place. "Okay..." Namjoon whispered and  Yoongi turned away, for the first time too, he couldn't look him in the eye. And the root of that notion wasn't planted in a  deep-seated anger. 

In fact, he didn't know what it was; what he was feeling. That confusion was becoming more and more prevalent in his life of late.

Namjoon re-entered through the kitchen doors with a messily plated pile of  tortellini and pushed it toward him nervously.  Yoongi blinked at it,  surprised by the portion, but before his eyes had even re-risen, Namjoon was back to work, swirling his cloth across the bar, his lanky frame back lit by the white light of the wine case.

Yoongi cleared his throat before picking up his fork. "Money is tight at the moment." Namjoon froze at the sudden drawl of his voice. "That's why."

The busboy's eyes wandered from the bar to  Yoongi's shadowed face and he chewed his first forkful. "Then I'll pack you some more for tonight."

"But Chaerin will..."

"I'll put it through as an  order, and put the money into the register myself."

"I didn't ask you to-"

"I know." Namjoon told him. "But I'm going to regardless."

Another pang...another pang. "Thanks..."

Namjoon nodded and was back to his work in seconds. Three minutes later he took his break at the bar too, sat way across to right by the  old-style radio. He pushed in a cassette and pressed play.

Yiruma. Yoongi knew his delicate melodies anywhere. 

This was 'Kiss The Rain'.

Despite him doting on each note,  Yoongi had always thought of that title in  dismay ;  of course, such a thing was impossible to do. 

Like time, water was ever moving, something that we could neither run from nor could we catch. It surrounded each life like a cocoon, floating in our peripherals with the lights of our future and the shadows of the past. What once was the present would be in the next moment your history. And the future as always remained unwritten. Just like  water, time was fluid and unpredictable.

It was an enigma.

A lucid dream.

One could never quite harness it. And in this modern world, it was ever passing us by  unnoticed . Out sight, it was out mind. Just like most things that passed  Yoongi by until recent days.

Almost as if the winds of winter were coming in over the landscape, and like the water flow, time was grinding to a halt around him. He was starting to see all the things he once missed.

Yoongi's sudden flurry of deep thought had his eyes glazed and starry. Namjoon watched him over  his copy of 'The  Colour Purple', watched his fingers tap in perfect time with melody on the countertop.

And from afar, tucked into a booth behind the free newspaper, the amber eyed angel watched also, a smile curving his lips and hope in his heart.

/

His shift ended that afternoon and  Yoongi looked forward to catching Hope and Hobi on the stairs after her trip to  Wickwillow Park. He prayed this time he'd see them smiling. It was dumb luck that the sun had not yet fallen from the sky, as something wonderful caught his eyes and his ears on his  journey. Taking him from his intended path.

The first thing that had him was the music. A flawed, but still pretty rendition of Chopin's 'Fantasie Impromptu'. He knew it well... it was the only song his mother would teach him before she...

But before he could finish his thought or fall into the maelstrom of a painful past, his eyes caught sight of the amber eyed beauty who turned on his toes in a measured  revolution . His arms were outstretched, fingers curved to the sky like Cali Poppy.

He was shining. A spangled star. A single  wisp so bright he could blind you, who glowed into the night to guide you. He pulled  Yoongi in as he danced; the moon to the earth, a moth to a flame. And the beauty moved his body as time moved now, ascending...slowing...as fluid as a summer stream. 

When Yoongi turned to his right however, the crescendo in his heart dropped like a stone to the pavement. The clumsy rendition had been played upon his piano, by the handsome man who owned the store.

A fire flickered to life in his stomach and gut deep urge to rip it away was rekindled. The beady eyes of the public had it within their eyeline and he  couldn't watch as they fell in love with what was supposed to be his.

The truth was they were busy. They watched only that angel dance. 

As  Yoongi passed, the angel rose up out of his arching dip. He watched him go as the applause rang out and  didn't even notice as notes and coins were tossed into his bag.

Yoongi became a dot and  disappeared , and it was then that the angel bent down to gather his money. 

He held some out to the shop owner who  shook his head in return, a sleepy smile spread across his  pillowy lips. "You keep it. I got  promotion; you keep the money."

The younger smiled, holding the notes to his heart. "Thank you."

The man patted his shoulder and ducked back inside, pushing the piano back to safety.

The paper was counted and it  wasn't much, but he smiled, turning the coins thrice in hand. He knew exactly how they'd be spent. And it was worth every cent.

/

Yoongi had missed the Jung's return, but the giggles heard from their doorway were enough to put him at ease. He kicked open his door, turned on his phone. He set it on the countertop as he searched his freezer  and waited for it to load.

Yoongi flinched at the sudden onslaught of bells and buzzes and rolled his eyes at the  reoccurrence of a single name. Most of course were from Taehyung, a couple too from Namjoon, whom he had given his number when he asked.

Then there were a few hidden between the rest... a few from Eunwoo.

** "Hey...I just wanted to see how you were." **

** "Not that  ** ** theres ** ** anything wrong with you, you're fine, ** ****

** I meant good! You're good. Not to assume your good you might not be...I was... just asking?" **

** "Ah, I'm sorry." **

****

** " ** ** Yoongi ** ** -yah... I miss you..." **

Yoongi sighed and deleted all five. He would have blocked his number long ago if it  wasn't for fear he might visit him at work.

Thankfully, he hadn't done so months. Thankfully, he didn't know where he lived.

Eunwoo was a University fling, whom was convinced  Yoongi was his first and only love. The night they fucked,  Yoongi had been drunk and emotions were high. That night he had cried and sniffled in his arms and  regretted it instantly the next day, because the taller had treated him like a child. Like he was weak and fragile and he hated it. He hated being looked at like he was broken.

So, for  now he sated him with the odd text...to keep him at  arm's length and out of his life. For the most part.

A sudden, quiet knock at his door had him curious and pulled from his thoughts. He rounded the counter and peered through the peep hole to see Hobi placing Hope down on her feet.

Yoongi breathed a sigh of  relief and opened the door to a shining smile,  that scrunched chubby cheeks and shining eyes. " Yoofie !" 

Yoongi laughed, soft and barely there. "Hey Hopey. Have you had your dinner now?"

"Uhuh! We had meat! I really wanted meat and Papa got some for me."

"That's good. I'm glad you had meat."

"An' look!" she held up her leg, hopping up and down on the other. A little pink shoe glittered in the spotlight, tied at her ankle with a powder pink ribbon.

"Papa got me shoes! They're like a ballerina."

The heaviness in  Yoongi's heart lifted a little in chest. It was worth it. It was always worth  the struggle , seeing her smile was enough. "Yeah...you look like one. Like a little ballerina."

His words brought him back like a train in  reverse... to just half an hour earlier, where that boy spun silk and gold for a cloudy sky. That damn boy, whose face was  everywhere . In dreams and in the back of his mind, when he was lost under the spell of another song. 

Hobi cocked his head curiously and he ushered his daughter toward their door. "Go on, go get your jammies and tooth brush for me, 'kay?"

She nodded, her pony tail swinging as she skipped back into the apartment and pushed the door into a crack.

Hobi eyed the other warily, unsure of how to approach him when he seemed so lost. In thought and in general.

"Yoongi-yah?" The elder turned to him slowly. "You okay?"

Yoongi blinked...at  snail's pace. Then he turned into his  apartment, and he slammed the door shut without a  word.

For a moment  Hoseok hesitated, wondering if he should knock and ask again. But in the  end, he decided no... to hound him never went well.

So, he retired to his own apartment, before Hope spread toothpaste and god knows what else up the walls.

/

Though he could barely roll himself out of bed for his next shift,  Yoongi found himself delving much deeper into his drawers as he dressed himself for work the next morning. He pulled a loose, thin sweater from the bottom of the pile. The sharp sting of the Fall had made its presence known and the  goose bumps that wracked his skin were the result. The colour was dark, but a colour nonetheless. Emerald green. He paired it with his usual worn jeans and combat boots and left with a cigarette loose between his lips.

He heaved the door toward him, iron cast frame taking all the energy he had left. Breathless, he paused, and before him on the porch was a tiny paper bag, with the words KeopiKeopi scrolled in pink on the side. 

In the breeze the lined paper fluttered, pinned to the brick with the contents of the sack. Yoongi took a drag...let it the smoke curl and veil his face as he crouched and pulled the note free from its confines.

_ Yoongi _ _ , _

_ Eat well  _ _ today. You're _ _ working so hard and I'm proud of you. I'm proud of you always. I'm here for you always. _

_ -J _

His stomach clenched and unclenched uncomfortably, the chill of a ghost on the back of his neck had his hairs on end and his senses as wild as a wolf in full moon.

With a rustle, he opened the bag and pulled out his usual. A double shot iced coffee. His bulgogi panini.

He growled, because now it was becoming too much. Now he was on tenterhooks, his eyes flickering like dying flames around the  shadows of the courtyard at 7:00am. Frustrated he dumped the contents back into the bag and screwed it tight in his fist as he stormed toward the  Highstreet , unaware of the  shadow who followed faithfully in his wake.

/

The kitchen doors almost shattered as Yoongi burst through them ten minutes late. Namjoon jumped like a cable and turned to Yoongi with widened eyes. "Yoongi?"

"Is this you." he shoved the bag of coffee and food toward him. 

"What?"

"How the fuck do you know my coffee order?"

"I-I don't, what're are you..."

"Bullshit!" he yelled  launching it across the room. The coffee burst splashing the all the cupboards and counters.

"Yoongi, I swear! Are you okay? Are you..."

"Shut up! Just-just...shut up..."  Yoongi slumped back against the  Venetian tile and pressed his balled fists to his forehead.

Namjoon set the speckled china aside, folding the cloth and leaving it on the sink. "Yoongi, I... I don't know what's happening with you in your life right now. But no man is an island. What I mean by that is that everything you do creates a ripple, ripples that could start a wave. Maybe...maybe those ripples reached someone and touched them. But this bag of food or whatever it is. It wasn't me. I don't know who it was. It could be a customer who liked you or...someone you met one time and made smile. They could just be an admirer, maybe someone who lives near to where you do."

What  surprised Yoongi in that moment was just how quickly the calm tone flooded his body and warmed him to the bone. 

He sagged in seconds and rubbed his tired eyes in an attempt to keep them open. "Namjoon..."

"Yes?"

"I'm so-"

"Yoongi" Chaerin's narrow eyes glared out from behind the office door. "Get in here we need to talk."

She  disappeared quickly but left the door open. Namjoon grimaced. "Honestly I have no idea what she wants this time. Good luck."

/

Yoongi entered the room to a hidden face behind and stack of papers and  Chaerin leaned into the light from the  shadows , her stiff  linen jacket rustling as she went. "You're late."

"Is that it?" he scoffed. "I always get the food there on time, you know that."

" Oh you think  that's it." she pushed a small stack of paper toward him. "What the hell is this."

As Yoongi's eyes scanned the words, his body ran cold. "I..."

"Don't you dare come up with some bullshit excuse." she growled, fire behind her sharply lined eyes. "I could deal with your lateness, your absence and ever your shitty attitude. But sucking dick on the job and getting caught Yoongi..."

"I. .. these are all him. He's just pissed at me because I..."

"It  doesn't matter! All this means is that our website is flooded by complaints about the delivery driver who likes to suck cock."

His eyes shot up, furious. "Oh, so this is a gay thing..."

"I couldn't give a fuck if you sucked four million different dicks every night for dinner  Yoongi , the point is that you've been caught and now people could refuse delivery meaning the owners will  lose money and potentially put us all out on our asses."

"It's just one guy!" he promised, pushing the pages back toward her. "It won't happen again."

"It won't." she agreed. "Because I'm...shit Yoongi, I'm gonna have to let you go."

Yoongi blinked, his eyes fogged up,  unseeing, his heart still in his chest. He heaved in heavy breath. "You can't."

She sighed rubbing the bridge of her nose between her thumb and her forefinger. "I have to. What about Namjoon, Gaeri, the rest of the staff? I can't put you above them all."

"Chaerin, please." 

That tiny, broken voice had her meeting his gaze, bare and brimming with tears. "Yoongi..."

"I need to be here. I need this job. I know things have been rocky, but if I don't pay my landlord by Friday I..."

"Yoongi... I'm sorry. My hands are tied." his eyes, fluttered shut. "I can pay you for today... but-but we have let you go."

Any of the child-like hope left in him was gone in an instant and he was running before he knew it, Namjoon's calls like an echo in the dark recesses of his mind.

/

By the light of the moon that night, Yoongi wandered the streets, bottle in hand and the world moving around him. The bars were now closed, he'd had his fill of quick fucks and he was now, to his mind, all alone in a world that didn't want him. 

He had nothing left to lose.

He looked up at the stars and saw no beauty. The moon was just rock, nestled upon and ever looming darkness that threatened to swallow him whole. That night he stumbled back across Gnammy by chance and took a rock in his palm from the pavement.

He pulled back his arm, rock raised high, and pelted it through the door of the piano store before him. The alarm cried out into the still of the night, but roused nobody from their dreamless slumber. Thrusting a sloppy palm through the hollow pane, he unlocked the door from the inside.

By this time, the shop was coloured red, the brick was washed crimson and under the glare of the security alarm, his piano was almost the colour of sequoia.  Yoongi smiled as his  fingertips brushed the keys and he slipped onto the bench, pushing his hoodie back as if it were coat tails.

His hands hovered for a moment, not knowing quite where to start, but soon all the noise faded into nothingness and his finger plucked the first phrase from his mind.

He played with a  languid reverence, drawing on each note so that the song might never end. Each ringing of the ivories touched him... core deep and resonating. And as he settled into the  melodies, in that sweet moment, was finally at peace.

Back to the windows, he never saw the angel coming. Amber-eyes lifted the umbrella from his face and he looked on at his love with pain and adoration laced in every iota of his expression. The thin  column of rain that cover him rushed like a river, a whisper from a  forgone sky.

From the end of the road a  delivery truck flashed its signals, the light bouncing of the droplets and casting a  shadow over  Yoongi's frame.

But as the elder whipped round, there was nothing the flash of  colour and a thin frame passing from right hand window. 

Breath caught in his throat, Yoongi stumbled from his seat and out into streets, his feet splashing down into the puddled by the door. The bell chimed as the door slammed shut and he stared up at the cloudless sky.

The streets were empty, the city silent, and he followed the puddles down toward the  apartment blocks, brow furrowed in his  disarray . 

He turned back toward the market street, a ringing in his ear. With the rush of the wind as a warning, he only just missed the car that shot past, inches from taking his body with. He stood there for a second and watched it go... his eyes narrowed and his stomach turning. Then he staggered back onto the path of the puddles.

It led him back home, his vision blurring and Earth shifted beneath his feet. The figure under the  rain turned his back to the floodlights, so bright they drowned him out.

Exhausted, done, drained of all  conscious power,  Yoongi's knees gave out and the world faded to black. 

/

The soft, even breathing at first light,  Yoongi assumed to be his own. But it quickly  occurred to his  conscious mind that his breathing was rarely even, nor would it be so deep as he woke.

He pushed himself up on his elbow carefully, letting his head spin to a stop and clocking the glass of water left on his bedside table. He frowned,  befuddled as to the chain of events that led him from the courtyard to his bed.

That was until he turned his head, and found the angel eyed  vagabond from the market curled at the foot of his bed. Time stilled in that moment, and he found himself taking in the lines of his features, all smoothed  out  and serene from his slumber. His dark lashes fluttered against his cheeks, his button nose blushed pink and his lip were pushed into a pout by his cheeks. He glowed here, though the skies were grey, his skin smooth and flawless despite the smudge of dirt here or there.

He was...really fucking beau-

Yoongi snapped himself from his reverie and rolled himself from the  mattress to pull on his sweat pants before he  spoke . He poked the  vagabond's ribs with his toe and slowly he was pulled from the land of nod. Those amber eyes sparkled up at him from below, the ghost of a smile playing on his lips. 

"Hey-"

"What's your game?" Yoongi growled.

He smiled so very faintly, pushing himself up to sit. "Ah darling, it this really how you'll greet me? I came all the way here just for you."

"Well you're mistaken, I'd never even seen you here 'til last night. And I'm certain I'm not your 'darling'."

The younger laughed, soft and fond wringing his sweater paws in his lap. "You really don't remember  me, do you?"

"There is nothing to remember."

The  razor-sharp cadence of  Yoongi's tone, had the other inhaling and clutching his chest. He took a second to recover and  Yoongi wondered what just happened as he did. He swallowed, his voice but a whisper when he spoke. "Perhaps you're right... maybe it's time to rewrite the stars." he turned his eyes up a met his gaze. "Let make up for the time that we've lost."

Yoongi laughed,  nonplussed . "You're insane."

"You always did say it was a crazy love."

"When!?" Yoongi snapped. "I saw you for this first time only this week."

"The first time in this life time, huh?"

"What?"

"I assure you sweetheart, we've met before."

"Sure." he scoffed. "We met before. When exactly was that? One night after too many drinks?"

"In a  different place, a  different time, back then you loved me and I loved you... you were mine...my  Yoongi . And I was  your little one. You r Jimin-ah." 

The silence in room was almost deafening and then Yoongi spoke, pale faced with wide eyes. 

"How the hell do you know my name?"

Jimin smiled. All-knowing.


	4. Where The Jagged Rocks Feel Like Home.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Yoongi struggles with the idea of a past life and his lack of future and the boys come together to lift him up.

Jimin blinked, his face unmoving. "I told you. We've met be-"

"Bullshit."

Jimin pressed his plush lips together and nodded. "You're right...we haven't met. Or at least...I haven't met this new Yoongi. The one who lived without me."

"How. Do you know. My name."

Jimin wrapped his arms around his thinning frame, it irked Yoongi that his heart squirmed at the sight of him. It irked him that he wanted to move, to tug the duvet up from under his body and swaddle him until he was soft, warm and pliant to touch. "It's...it's complicated."

"What's so complicated about it? You've been tailing me for days, I bet those little notes were down to you, huh? Not only that, but then you show up at my building while I'm dizzy drunk, break into my apartment and fall asleep at the foot of my-"

"I didn't...I  didn't break in, your  neighbour he let me into the building when I called.  Hoseok I think his name was?"

"Answer my damn questions." he snapped.

"You won't  believe me if I do."

"Try me."

Jimin swallowed, his eyes swirling galaxies of caught light and  comet like flashes of the past. He rose unsteadily to his feet, tripping over his toes.  Yoongi grabbed his arm without a thought and steadied him there until his stood. 

Their eyes met, and  Yoongi was rendered immobile. Frozen like a moment in time. Jimin considered the elder for a  brief moment, and then he spoke...upon seeing the  unyielding sincerity running in ribbons through  Yoongi's gaze. "I came here for you, not only from a different place...but from a different time too."

"What the fuck do you..."

"Please...just listen. It's so complicated..."  Yoongi grumbled and dropped his arm, he perched himself upon the side table, his own crossed over his chest. Jimin went on with tiny tentative steps. "It's...not so much that I'm from a  different date. I too come from the year 2019, maybe from Busan instead of Daegu but still, I don't...come from the 2019 that you do. Because..."

"Because what?"

"Because the you that I knew... he died last night. On your way to find me after a stupid argument about something I don't even remember." Yoongi remained still, the perfect statue of a wavering indifference. "The you I knew lived with me in our apartment in Busan, you rapped and I danced, we made art together. But mostly importantly the you I knew was in love with me. You were the steadily flickering flame...beautiful, warm... guiding me. The world would watch you in wonder. Then one night you were snuffed. Gone. Nothing but smoke left behind. All smoke, no fire. It was like I could still feel your arms around me but now it was cold. Empty. You were gone and for months, I thought there was nothing I could do." his voice was barely a breath, but Jimin lifted his eyes, huge, round and ocean like as a sea of tears rushed in. "But there was. There was hope."

There was a long pause between his final words and Yoongi's next, one where a thousand questions were left unanswered for both of them. A question did not pass Yoongi's lips as he spoke.

"Get out."

Jimin blinked  astonished . " Wh -what?"

"Get the fuck out."

"Yoongi."

"Now."

Before Jimin could move, the elder had grabbed his wrist and began yanking him out from behind his bedroom divider. But Jimin dug his heels into the floorboard. " Yoongi , please! I know it sounds  ridiculous , but I  pr -"

"You know what's ridiculous." he spat, shoving his wrist away. "That you would come up in here and think me an idiot, insult my fucking  intelligence and expect I would fall at your feet. Of all the damn tales these little shits would spin, yours is by far the most offensive."

"I know it sounds crazy! I do." Jimin implored his chest twisting painfully. "But I promise..."

"Why would your promise mean shit to me? What? Did I fuck you that good that it warped your sense of  reality? I don't fucking remember you and I don't care who you think you are. If you're here for another fuck, I don't want you. If you're here for money, I'll be out on the streets with you before you know it.  So leave. I have nothing to give you and even if I did, I wouldn't. Do you hear me? Am I making myself perfectly fucking plain?"

"Y- Yoongi ." The elder went to take him, put Jimin pulled away clutching his chest. "Your-your mother's name is  Chanmi ; you lost her when you were young. You love to play the piano  because it reminds you of her and it soothes you. The first  tattoo you ever got was finished when you were very young, about sixteen and it was a little  basketball on your left ankle. You told me you couldn't wait to have it removed because it was tacky and messily done. The first song you ever wrote in full was ' Nevermind '. It was a phrase your Mom would use every time you were hurt to make you feel better. And you wrote it so that no matter what you had to face you could carry on and be strong..."

"You..." Yoongi glared, his mind racing and rapidly attempting to patch together an explanation with what he perceived could be a reality. "You've been speaking to my cousin... haven't you? What has he gotten to you too! Is he really gonna stoop this low?"

"What? No,  Yoongi listen to me! Look!" He pulled his sweater up sharply, tugging it up over his ribs to reveal the faded scrawl of a  nine-letter phrase. 

N E V E R M I N D.

"Every time I tripped up or fell down in life, you'd whisper this to me so gently as you held me. It made everything that hurt me worth it in that moment. It was okay because I had you."

Yoongi blinked and shook his head, eyes narrow in disbelief. "You're fucking sick. What do you want? What do want from me?!"

"B-Buh... I-I jus-" Jimin gasped and stumbled over his words, as Yoongi took him by his wrist and tugged him in his weakened state toward the front door, ripping it open and pushing him out in a decidedly unceromonious fashion.

Jimin crumbled immediately without Yoongi's hand to guide him. He landed on his knees on tile, doubled over and gasping for relief. Three sets of eyes were glued upon him as he struggled to regain his grip.

"Yoofie?" Hope whined, hugging her father at his knees. "Is he hurted?"

Yoongi blinked but could not look at her, as Jimin's brow furrowed and he coughed on a caught breath. Expressionless, he watched as Hope approached him meekly, Hobi's eyes turned upon Yoongi in shock. "Mister, are you okay?"

Jimin lifted his head weakly and fixed her with a quivering smile. "I'm...I'm okay sweet girl...I'm just... kinda winded. Give me a moment."

"I can get you a  band aid ?"

The amber-eyed angel chuckled weakly and Hobi moved forward, offering out his hand for support. "Hey. You okay, man?" 

Jimin allowed the elder to heave him to his feet. "Y-Yeah...don't...don't worry. I'm not hurt. He- he didn't..."

Yoongi swallowed the lump of shame in his throat and kept his eyes fixedly on the floor. Hobi nodded his  relief as Jimin slumped off toward the stairs. "Hey, wait! Don't you need any help?"

Jimin shook his head, with a shy, kind smile. "No, don't you worry. I'm not hurt. He just...wanted me gone." his voice hollowed out at the end. "It's fair. He just wanted me out that's all."

That pang in heart came back with a  vengeance , echoing like a cry in an undersea cave. It physically hurt. To see that boy  weak and broken, but still defending him when he knew deep  down, he was wrong. He didn't want it. He didn't want that kind of love. He didn't ask for it.

Still, Jimin left at and agonising pace and Hobi watched him go with Hope on his hip. The slamming of the door and the bottom of the stairs was like a gunshot to his chest. Hobi turned to him in an uproar. "What was that!" he hissed. "Yoongi what did you-"

"Are you honestly  surprised ?"  Yoongi finally met his eyes, void of any emotion. "Have you only now just  realised? I'm the bad guy. I'm the  villain ."

"Yoongi, I didn't mean that. You're not-"

"Regardless. You won't have to put up with me for much longer, so..." he rolled his eyes up to the ceiling. "Happy days all around."

"Yoongi. I really didn't mean..."

"Happy days." he turned into his empty flat, his empty life, with an empty heart and closed the door with a crash behind him. 

/

With Jimin's pretty eyes branded onto his retina and his pretty words still ringing in his ears, Yoongi couldn't quiet comprehend Minyoung when he handed him his eviction notice. The barren wasteland that was Yoongi's expression must have stirred the elder quite considerably, because he gave him the month to find somewhere new.

Yoongi knew that was no use. 

He couldn't afford to live anywhere now but the  streets .

He started sort his very few  possessions into piles. Keep, sell and throw. His whole world reduced to three half empty trash bags. He thought that spoke volumes of how both he and the world thought of him.

/

_ Jimin's neck was forced into a crane. He shivered and lifted his head as two tall  _ _ shadows _ _ passed the sun. Two men;  _ _ Hoseok _ _ from  _ _ Yoongi's _ _ floor and another, long and gangling with dark, dimpled cheeks... so cute Jimin could pinch them. "Hi...you know Min  _ _ Yoongi _ _ , right?" Dimples murmured. Jimin nodded, all weary. "Ah! I'm sorry, my name is Kim Namjoon." he reached a palm down and Jimin shook it, frail but friendly in his stance. _

_ "Hi, I'm Park Jimin..."  _

_ Hobi smiled and helped the smaller to his feet. " _ _ Namjoonie _ _ tells me you've been dancing here every day since our  _ _ Yoongi _ _ was fired." _

_ "I'm sorry, I can stop if I'm disturbing..." _

_ "Oh no!" Hobi chuckled, "I used to dance too! Before  _ _ Hopey _ _ came along. I just came to  _ _ Gnammy _ _ to see if I could convince the boss to give  _ _ Yoongi _ _ another chance. But Namjoon-ah told me it was a no-go so...we came up with a little idea ourselves." _

_ "An idea?" Jimin murmured, his head tilted curiously to the side. _

_ "You know the guy who owns this piano store right?" _

_ Jimin turned back to shop with the  _ _ boarded-up _ _ pane and then he turned to Namjoon and  _ _ Hoseok _ _ ,  _ _ bemused. _ _ "A little, he'll play for me now and then on the brown piano while I dance." _

_ "Yeah? You think he'll do that for a week or two?" _

_ "I-I really don't know...he knows now that it was  _ _ Yoongi _ _ who broke in that night. He knows that I dance for him, to provide him little comforts. Wouldn't asking him that be a  _ _ kinda _ _..." _

_ "We need you to ask him anyway. Please?" Namjoon pleaded. _

_ "Why?" _

_ "We think we may have found a way to help  _ _ Yoongi _ _ stay. If not for him then for Hope. I think him gone, they'd both be left with hole in their hearts and a pit in their stomachs." Hobi frowned, his tummy churning at the  _ _ thought _ _ of his baby's tears. _

_ Jimin's worn muscles tensed, and he straightened up with squared shoulders. "What do you need me to do?" _

/

Yoongi found himself spiralling through the week, it started with a pen at the unemployment office, but soon he was swiping everything his eyes touched. To the point he was unscrewing tap heads in public restrooms and tucking them into his pockets like  mementos .

He sold them later at scrap yards but for very little money in return. Though he knew his efforts were fruitless he kept on taking nonetheless, like his hands had a mind of their own and he'd lost all logic and  self-control .

/

_ Jimin's legs knees trembled under the weight of  _ _ responsibility _ _. However, with  _ _ Hoseok _ _ beside him, stripped on his blazer but still donning his suit, he felt a little stronger than he had before. _

_ Hope looked on from the bench, perched atop Namjoon's lap. They had an hour each to spare and by some  _ _ miracle _ _ above, the piano's owner had agreed to an hour or so at lunch too. _

_ Hobi smiled at him from across pavement, as he bent to place collection plate on the concrete. "Ready?" _

_ He nodded, taking a deep breath and letting his shoulders sink like sand. With the  _ _ signalled _ _ nod given by Hobi, the piano's handsome owner began to play; a sweet, trickle of melody that flowed like water. And Jimin bent and moved to it. Dipping, reaching, curving,  _ _ spinning _ _ , Hobi catching and lifting him through the narrative.  _

_ But while Jimin was lost is another world, Hobi danced for Hope, his eyes meeting hers with every chance he had. _

_ His little girl's eyes lit up like a tree and she gasped. "Papa and  _ _ Jiminie _ _ dances so pretty." _

_ Namjoon chuckled and clapped her little hands together, bouncing her on his lap. At  _ _ first, _ _ he had been  _ _ quite _ __ _ awkward _ _ , not know what to say or how to entertain her. But Hope was kind, within three minutes she'd poked his dimples and had him melting. "They are pretty dancers. But you know who would be even prettier?" _

_ She perked up, curious. "I  _ _ dunno _ _." _

_ "You." he chuckled. He held out his hand and donned a faux  _ _ British _ _ accent. "May I have this dance,  _ _ M'lady _ _?" _

_ Namjoon followed the pair in clumsy step, Hope  _ _ shrieking _ _ and giggling in his arms. The combination of grace and elegance, contrasted with the wild abandon of youth drew in crowds from all angles. They all came, most payed, but all felt joy in those minutes of  _ _ sun-soaked _ _ euphoria. _

/

Yoongi's lay sprawled on his back and stared and the damp patch on the ceiling above. To his right, lined up like show pieces, were endless articles from his week on the pinch. Notepads, toilet rolls, a pacifier, some keys... another silver mirror from that stall on Market Street.

Though he combed them with his eyes and filed them in his mind for selling, the urge that came from before was not rewarded with any jubilation when he looked at them now. They were still... just things.

It that moment  Yoongi broke new ground, and this was the moment he realised the truth. It wasn't the  possession that brought him joy. An object couldn't coax him from his bed. It was the feeling, the rush of adrenaline that made him feel alive. It was knowing he could have something if he wanted it.

It was having  control , having a chance, having hope.

Suddenly these objects seemed so pointless. Money could be had in return, but money gave him no real control, money could be lost. Could slip in and out of your life quicker than the flash of light as the sun broke the horizon.

And it would leave you with nothing.

What was it, he wondered, what was it that he truly wanted? What could give him that high but not leave him wanting? What would feed his flame but not leave him blind to  shadows ? What would remain in his heart even if nothing was forever?

/

_ Jimin's breath fogged up the glass as he pressed his forehead to cool shop window. He panted and wheezed like a steam train rolling to a halt. Hobi rubbed at his shoulders from behind.  _

_ "Ai, come, you need to rest now. Have some pasta." _

_ "I can't."  _

_ "Jimin-ah." Namjoon huffed. "If you kill yourself, who will raise the money? If you won't rest for you, rest for  _ _ Yoongi _ _." _

_ " _ _ Jiminie _ _...you won't  _ _ die, _ _ will you?" Hope whimpered, her eyes expanding with the sheer terror. Jimin turned to her, his eyes softening in time with his heart.  _

_ " _ _ Nonono _ _ , baby." Hobi hushed, lifting her and cupping her cheek. "It's just a figure of speech." _

_ "I'll rest..." Jimin allowed. "But...only for an hour..." _

_ The piano's handsome owner weighed  _ _ in, _ _ his arms folded across his broad chest. " _ _ Absolutely _ _ not. I'm taking the piano back inside." _

_ "But  _ _ Hyunggg _ _!" Jimin whined. _

_ "No! You've been dancing all day. You need rest." _

_ Jimin huffed but dropped down with his back to the wall and like a pitstop, Namjoon came in with the steaming container of hot food. As they settled down and Jimin offered a mushroom to Hope,  _ _ Hoseok _ _ approached the store owner, suddenly and uncharacteristically shy. _

_ " _ _ Seokjinnie-hyung _ _?" The elder's doe eyes met his. "Should I help you take it in?" _

_ Seokjin smiled. "I thought you'd never ask. My backs been thrown out more times than the Sunday Paper on a Monday." he paused after they heaved and lifted the piano over the lip of the door frame. "Ah...I sound  _ _ ancient _ _ , don't I?" _

_ "You look very young." Hobi blurted as they wheeled it back into place on the left side of the shop.  _

_ Jin's _ _ eyes brightened. "And that is the correct answer." _

_ Hobi beamed and dipped his head as Hope came bounding through the shop door with the chime of the bell. "Papa!" she jumped as she reached him and Hobi caught her, swinging he legs around his hip.  _

_ "Yes, my baby girl?" _

_ " _ _ Namjoonie _ _ said I have to ask if I can have some candies." _

_ Hoseok _ _ rolled his eyes playfully. " _ _ Fiiiine _ _. But only one. We'll take the rest home for after tea." he  _ _ booped _ _ her nose with his index finger and she scrunched it up for him cutely. _

_ With her eyes flickering from his to Seokjin's, she leaning in, cupping her hands around her Papa's ear and (not so quietly) whispered: "He's pretty Papa!" _

_ Hoseok _ _ blushed, his gaze flashing from  _ _ Jin _ _ back to Hope. "Is that so?" _

_ Jin _ _ smirked and held up a hand for a  _ _ high-five _ _ , she met it, if a little off centre. "You have good taste Jung  _ _ Hopey _ _! Ten  _ _ Seokjinnie _ _ points!" _

_ She giggled and clapped. "Papa, I got points!" _

_ "You did, my baby!" _

_ "You know what could get you big  _ _ Seokjinnie _ _ points?" She bounced on Hobi's hip, almost throwing herself backward in her  _ _ excitement _ _. Seokjin grinned wolfishly. "If  _ _ Hopey _ _ can convince Papa to go on a date with  _ _ Seokjinnie _ _ , I will give 100  _ _ Seokjinnie _ _ Points!" _

_ Hope's dark lashes fluttered, puzzled. " _ _ Wha's _ _ a date?" _

_ Hobi, heart _ _ buzzing in his chest, stuttered. "I-I um... well, it's when people really like it other go to a place together and..." _

_ "Like friends?" _

_ Hobi shook his head, cheeks burning under  _ _ Jin's _ _ steady gaze. "N-No, like a boyfriend, baby." _

_ "Can a boy have a boyfriend?" she wondered, tapping her chin thoughtfully. _

_ "Yeah... _ _ Yeah, _ _ they can, if that's who they like." _

_ "Then I want Daddy to go with Pretty Mister  _ _ Seokjinnie _ _!" she proclaimed, and Hobi's lips twitched up. _

_ "Yeah?" he turned to Seokjin, "Uh, I  _ _ dunno _ _...I haven't really every left Hope alone with anyone but  _ _ Yoongi _ _...and he's going through it so..." _

_ " _ _ So _ _ ask  _ _ Namjoonie _ _. He seems to like her. Or  _ _ Jiminie _ _ , you like Jimmie right  _ _ Hopey _ _?!" she nodded enthusiastically. _

_ Hobi clutched her a little tighter. "I... I  _ _ dunno _ _. I've not been on the scene in..." _

_ "There's no pressure." he promised. "And if it doesn't work  _ _ out, _ _ we just stay friends, hm? Come on...you deserve one night." _

_ "I would love to,  _ _ believe _ _ me. It's just that money is-" _

_ "Not a problem. I'm the one who asked. It's on me." _

_ "Please Papa! For  _ _ Seokjinnie _ _ points." _

_ Hobi snorted and finally, he gave in. "Okay. Yes...I would be honoured." _

_ "High ten  _ _ Hopey _ _! And 100  _ _ Seokjinnie _ _ Points!" the elder cried and she squealed as their palms met. When their eyes met over the top of her head, Seokjin's were filled to the brim with a fondness and desire. Hobi in that moment felt something that he hadn't felt in a long time. _

_ He felt wanted.  _

_ He felt sexy. _

_ He felt human. _

/ 

Though he didn't know why,  Yoongi felt something like peace pass over him. Like a tide rolling in around him, he was weightless and the world moved around him  unperturbed . For  now, he repeated the phrase like a mantra in his mind.

Nevermind. Nevermind. Nevermind.

/

This time around, the knock at his door was jarring and quite unfamiliar and when  Yoongi pulled open his door, Namjoon had found him messy haired and dark circled. The elder grimaced, his eyes passing the  mismatched line of  knickknacks inquisitively before he turned to face him.

"Ah, Hyung you look like shit."

Yoongi rolled his eyes. " Every the complimentary wordsmith,  aren't you?"

"Sorry..."

Yoongi shrugged. "What do you want?"

"I actually come bearing gifts!" he cheered, extracting the pudgy envelope from his pocket.

Yoongi blinked down at it. "What, you go me some weed to sell or somethin'?"

"Huh!? No! No nothing like that! Take it." he shook it and the contents rattled.

Yoongi took it gingerly, ripping it open and pulling out the sizeable wad of cash half way before shoving it back in and thrusting the envelope into Namjoon's chest. "No."

"Hyung, please take it! We gathered it all for you!"

"I don't want anything gathered from Kim Taehyung."

Namjoon shook his head quickly. "Nonono! This isn't from Tae."

Yoongi narrowed his eyes all queer; since when were Namjoon and his cousin on nickname terms? "I don't want anything from you either."

"It's not from me ...technically."

Yoongi scoffed. "Then who? The Sugar Plum Fairy."

"Actually, the Sugar Plum Fairy would suit him well, I wonder if he played that role when he was..." Namjoon froze under Yoongi's pointed stare. "Sorry... I'm waffling again, aren't I?"

"Yes." Yoongi told him, he prodded at the envelope of notes. "Who is this from."

Namjoon pushed his tongue against his cheek  skittishly . "It's...well, it's from Park Jimin...and Jung  Hoseok too, I guess."

"How do you..."  Flabbergasted , he shook his head. " Hoseok can't even afford to-"

"Oh, don't worry it's not from his wage."

"Then how? Neither of them  has the money to spare."

"It's true, they don't, but they managed to raise it together. Hyung could only join Jimin on his lunch breaks and after the school run granted, but..."

"Hope shouldn't be missing out on her play time because of me." Yoongi whispered.

Namjoon shrugged. "She actually really loved to see her  Appa dance. And Jimin too. I would mind her while they performed and she was more than content. He was happy to be up there moving and so she was happy to watch. Besides, it was really Jimin who took the full brunt of the workload. He would barely stop for air." Namjoon's eyes turned up thoughtfully,  Yoongi's trailing  off to the sliding doors where the sun shone a dusty beam and the birds chirped all too happily. "That boy is insane, I know that. But you should have seen him, Hyung. He was so weak, no matter how much we fed him up. But he refused to stop dancing until the music was gone altogether. He'd dance until he passed out, until he could barely hold down his lunch and I had to spend a good hour after each shift  convincing him that he  couldn't help you if he was dead or-" 

With his heart in knots, Yoongi snatched the envelope back. "Okay, okay, I get it."

Namjoon's bright smile put him on edge. He plopped himself down on the lumpy couch and counted the money. "All their  hard work still might come to nothing." he murmured as he gathered the tallied money back up. "I still have a hundred or so to find and I only have a little left for food and bills."

The busboy watched Yoongi slump in his seat, rubbing the migrane away from his temples. "You know...there's still one person who wouldn't mind helping out."

"I'm not calling Taehyung."

"Hyung. He really-"

Yoongi was suddenly on his feet, blinking listlessly at the taller man. "I'm tired, please tell Hoseok and Jimin that I'm grateful."

His bottomless but unbendable tone  signalled it was time for Namjoon to leave. "Then I'll go first."

When the door clicked shut behind him, Yoongi remained suspicious. Why would anyone work so hard for his sake only? It made no sense. That wasn't the way it worked for him. He shook his head tucked the money under his mattress, a little of the weight lifted from his shoulders.

/

Yoongi spent the next few days called to Jimin like a sailor to a siren. He watched him prove Yoongi wrong. Every single day from dawn to dusk, Jimin's danced for him without fail. He watched the boy wobble from behind the sycamore, watched him revolved on the head of a pin and despite the time or numbers he kept going. Until someone would force him to stop.

On the fifth night however the world was quiet, the air thick and warm. There was no dance, no feet in perfect point and no finger tips curled like dried leaves to heavens. All there was left was a bundle of blankets on the floor and a body quivering under the glare of the street lamp.

It was then  Yoongi came out from the  shadows , a light breeze ruffling his messy bangs. He stopped just  centimetres short of the boy, his heart trembling where it lay as Jimin's brow furrowed and he clutched at his blankets with all he had.

"You're cold?"

Jimin's eyes cracked open, and even under the heavy lids, he saw them sparkle. "Yoongi..."

"I don't understand."

"What? Wuh-What don't you understand?"

"Anything. I don't understand how you're cold in the middle of a heatwave. I don't understand why they  haven't offered you their couches. I don't understand why you're doing this."

Jimin used the wall to support him as he flopped from his left side to his right. "It's Winter-time where I'm from...I guess this night is cold one. Namjoonie tried, buh-but his landlord is n-nosey and doesn't like long term g-guests. I-I did-didn't wanna bother you or-or Hope by staying with Hoseok and Hyung from the shop is all full. And I'm duh-doing this...because I love you."

Yoongi's eyes fluttered shut and he sunk to ground beside him, head tilted back against the glass. Like a message in a bottle, bobbing on ocean tide, Jimin shifted closer to the warmth, eventually pressing cheek to Yoongi's arm. Yoongi swallowed the lump in his throat, but he didn't have it in him to push Jimin away, even as he mumbled something soft and content into his sweater sleeve. 

"It rained on you, that night I broke down. It rained though it was dry and empty out on these streets. I followed the rainfall and I found you waiting for me..." he pressed his lips into thin line "Did I cry that night?" 

There was a pause, and for moment, Yoongi thought the younger was sleeping. But then he spoke, his voice crackling with every word. "You didn't cry but you kept telling me you were sorry. 'I'm sorry...I'm sorry I'm like this...I'm sorry I left...I'm sorry, I can't be man you needed.' Somehow... I don't think you were talking only to me." 

"Come home with me."

Jimin's eyes swept up, Yoongi met his gaze. "Huh? But...you..."

"You won't last much longer like this. You can stay with me until you find something else."

"'...Kay...thank you..." 

Yoongi turned and broke away, rising up to his feet. "Come on then, quickly before my right mind kicks in."

Jimin nodded and ever the determined, he struggled against the wall without asking for help at all. But he never even got to his knees.

Yoongi sighed, his heart in free-fall, he hooked his arms under his knees and around his waist, lifting the younger up bridal style. Exhausted from his struggle, Jimin's head flopped against Yoongi's chest and stayed there.

What stuck him immediately was how cold Jimin was, his skin like ice despite the moist air. And when he looked closely, at the amber eyed angel's pretty face, he could see the bite of the frost on his cheeks and sprinkle of snowflakes upon his onyx locks.

And it hit him like a bus. This boy had been telling the truth.

All that bullshit wasn't bullshit. It was now possible that Park Jimin really was a  long-lost love whose path he'd never crossed in this time line.

He walked with Jimin on auto pilot, plodding down Market Street and out into the residential district. His mind all the time was reeling.

Surprisingly , he  wasn't breathless on his climb to the fourth floor, he didn't seem to feel the strain at all, and when he finally lay Jimin down on his  mattress semi- conscious , the younger was blinking up at  Yoongi like he was the moon and stars.

"You don't have to do this... if you don't want to." he breathed.

Yoongi tugged the covers up around Jimin's neck expressionless. "You're paying for this  apartment; you get to use it...and my bed too. But the latter is until you regain your strength, clear?"

"Crystal." Jimin whispered, his eyes barely open anymore.

"It's not like we know how long I'll be here at this rate anyway. Sooner or  later, the weather will change and the crowds dissolve. Soon I'll be out of money. Then I'll be here all over again, having to face the facts, having to say goodbye to Hope and  Hoseok , Namjoon and now you. No matter what any of you mean to me, it just more to lose. No matter if it's a friend or just friendly face." he laughed, mirthless. " Y'know , sometimes I think maybe I'm not meant to be happy. Sometimes I'm sure I was meant to be alone. I don't know...but all I do know  is that I'm sick of losing. I-"

But when Yoongi turned back Jimin, the boy was lost to the world, the lines of his face smoothed out and the colour bleeding back into his cheeks. Yoongi indulged into those moments, where he could just stare at the boy and not feel the weight of his hopeful gaze looking back.

He really was uncommonly beautiful. He could see why more a kinder, more  optimistic Yoongi would have fallen so hard.

The elder tucked the covers up around his shoulders, and he left him to sleep in peace.

/

** Taehyung, are you  ** ** awake? - ** ** Y **

** Can I call you? -Y **

**_ Yoongi _ ** **_?!-TH _ **

**_ I mean yes, of course you can!!! - TH _ **

** ( ** ** Yoongi ** ** calling...) **

**_ "Hyung?" _ **

** "Taehyung-ah." **

**_ "Are you okay? Do you need something." _ **

****

** "..." **

****

**_ " _ ** **_ Yoongi _ ** **_ -Hyung?" _ **

****

** "You said you cared about me...up until recently, I didn't want to even look your way. But my circumstances have changed and now I have new responsibilities so...I need your help." **

****

**_ "Alright." _ **

****

** "...That easy? Why?" **

****

**_ "You're my cousin, you were all always braver, clever, stronger than me. I looked up to you. I still do. Seeing you be strong gave me strength too. I owe you more than you think." _ **

****

** "...Right..." **

****

**_ "What is it you need?" _ **

****

** "Money, just a  ** ** couple  ** ** hundred ** ** but. ** **.." **

****

**_ "Okay. I'll bring it to you  _ ** **_ tomorrow _ ** **_." _ **

****

** "You... know my address?" **

****

**_ "Nope, but I can ask  _ ** **_ Namjoonie _ ** **_." _ **

****

** "Since when have you two been best buddies?" **

****

**_ "Oh Hyung, I've been dating him for months..." _ **

****

** "...Oh..." **

****

**_ " _ ** **_ Mhm _ ** **_." _ **

****

** "That little shit. He never even... ** ** aish ** **." **

****

**_ "Hyung?" _ **

****

** "Yes?" **

****

**_ "This is nice, talking like this. Not screaming at each other. I missed this." _ **

****

** "...Come after dinner? Around 7pm." **

****

**_ "Sure. I'll see you then,  _ ** **_ Hyungie _ ** **_. Goodnight, Hyung." _ **

****

** "Yeah." **

/

Jimin sighed gently and inhaled the always familiar scent, swirled now with the smell of menthol cigarettes.

"Mmph...Yoongi..."

"What?"

Jimin flinched and scrambled to cover his (fully clothed) body with the sheets. Yoongi sat before him by the windowsill, blowing minty smoke out onto the fire escape. "You're up." he murmured tossing his cigarette from the window without stubbing it.

"You should-" Jimin froze as Yoongi did. "Stub it out before you throw it...it could uh...start a fire."

"What're you the fucking fire warden?" Yoongi grumbled, tugging the window hard and pulling it shut.

"No. .. sorry ."

Yoongi sighed and swept toward Jimin regardless. "How you feeing? You still weak?"

Jimin shook his head. "No. .. I feel much better actually. What time is it?" he wondered, the sun outside the window already lowering in the sky.

"Ten-past two..."

"What! Wait so I slept for like..."

"Sixteen hours, I came to check you weren't dead through the night, you sleep like a fucking log."

Jimin nodded, his hands splaying on the sheets. "Wow. I guess I needed it."

Yoongi grunted his agreement and let his tongue run across his teeth inside his mouth. "I need answers." he started, Jimin's head rotating to meet his gaze. "I need to know how the fuck this could even be possible."

"Yeah..." Jimin  concurred . "I thought you might."

" So, talk."

"You...well you know the short of what happened between us. What you may never understand, nor did I think you could understand then, was how much I really do love you."  Yoongi's eyes shut down. He looked away, so Jimin quickly moved on. "Long story short, I couldn't let you go. I tried everything. Prayer, science, spiritualism...anything and everything to bring you back, every day hoping to wake up and find you beside me...still warm and breathing. I got  desperate; I sought the help of a witch called Somang. I even turned to magic. Our friends  Chanyeol and Baekhyun, they thought I'd lost it. She came to my home and went straight for the piano. The little brown piano on the  left-hand side."

Yoongi's heart throbbed. "My piano?"

"Your piano." 

"Shit..."

"I know...she was  overwhelmed by it all, by your 'aura' around and inside it. She asked me if I'd ever heard of a portal. I had of course, but I thought that stuff only existed in Sci-fi films and video games. She asked if there was a song that you loved, the one you would trickle into in the downtime between other song. I knew it as soon as she said it, but she shook her head. Said "If you are desperate...if you really want to be beside him, play that song on this piano. A few notes will do. It will take you home." 

Jimin expelled the softest little laugh and  Yoongi perched himself rigid on his dresser. " So, you did, right?"

"At first...at first I couldn't bring myself to do it. Both from the fear of  disappointment and because...I swore the last note I would hear from those keys would be yours. But I got desperate and one night I did it, exhausted and barely able to hold my head up, but I did it. I played for you."

"What did you play?"

Jimin turned to him, eyes betraying the fondness he could barely keep buried within. "Chopin...Fantasie Impromptu."

The world tilted on its axis, shaking Jimin down to meet him across the sands and seas of time. Their paths  crossed; their worlds collided...

"Anyway...after that I saw a bright light, fell asleep and woke up in Hyung's store. Next thing I know you're falling over me on Market Street."

A supernova.

"This is fucking insane." Yoongi groaned combing his hair from his eyes.

"I know," Jimin soothed, rising up to meet him. "It's  a lot , take you time with it..."

But as he reached out to touch him, Yoongi pulled away. "I need to make something clear."

"O-Okay?"

"I can't give you what you want. I'm not your Yoongi. And I'm not in love with-" 

But the elder was cut off when Jimin squeaked a pained sound, his hand star-fished out over his chest.  Yoongi's heart skipped a beat, and  tentatively his fingers curled around his shoulder until it passed.

"Why? Why does that keep happening."

Head still hung, Jimin shook it. "I dunno..."

"You're lying."

Jimin, smile soft on his lips, met his gaze. "You always did see  right through me."  Yoongi had no response for that, so Jimin wet his dry lips with his tongue. "Have you eaten yet?"

"Eaten?"

Jimin laugh. "Course you haven't...may I, um...may I make us some food?"

Yoongi nodded, unable to speak and followed him to the kitchen when as he went. He watched him dubiously from atop the stone pass, as Jimin took a deep breath and painted on a smile.

What Yoongi could feel for him now was respect. He didn't know why Jimin loved him, he didn't even really know if he loved who he was now. But he had to admire his grit and potentially senseless positivity.

He didn't really even know this man yet, but he was strong, kind and brave...very brave.

/

The  woosh of Jimin's page as he turned it, was accompanied by the rush and spit of the shower. The amber eyed angel smiled at the sound,  revelling in how domestic it all was. The two of them warm, safe and full. Almost as one.

It coaxed back memories from their life together. Their skin warm under the spray, their hands wandering, their bodies twisted into one. Steamy handprints on the  shower screen .

Jimin was jolted from his memories by a gentle tap on the door, with  Yoongi otherwise engaged, he unfolded his legs and moved to the peephole to see. The man on the other side was very handsome and only  vaguely familiar, he was sure he'd seen him on the streets before.

He smiled gently, humming,  bemused when he saw that he was clutching a pink potted succulent. Cute.

Jimin unlatched the door and pulled it open.

The plant crashed and shattered on the tile.

The amber angel was left befuddled as the boy blinked rapidly, shaking his head. "No. .. No , no, no. You can't be."

"I. .. what ? Are you looking for-"

"You're dead! You're...I saw. You were..."

The realisation washed over Jimin like cold water, he held up his palms in surrender. "It's...it's okay. Just breathe, I'm sure can expl-"

"I saw you!"

"Taehyung! What the fuck is wrong with you?!" came  Yoongi's hiss, his hair still  tousled and wet, his navy sweater damp at the edges. "People have jobs to get to in the morning!"

"He's..." Tae's eyes were so wide,  Yoongi was sure they'd pop out of his skull. "He was dead, I saw him pulled out that river in Busan. He was drunk, he fell in. He was my best friend.  Is... was? Shit, I SAW YOU DEAD. Your heart stopped!"

"T-Taehyung, right?" Jimin pled. "Please calm down, please lower your voice. I can explain, I really can!" 

In an instant, the reality of their situation began to materialise, the lines of the image sharpened and the colour being washed across the backdrop. Yoongi ran cold. This was real, he was real, a real person with whom he'd shared a real life.

"How the fuck are you-"

"Taehyungie?" the younger's breakdown ground to a sharp stop, as the old petname fell from the elder's lips. "You can't tell anyone he was here. We can explain, but if you really care about me, if you really care... or have cared for him, you can't speak a word of this to anyone who might know his name."

"But...his-his parents... his brother..."

"Have already grieved, they don't need to know." For the first time, when  Yoongi looked back at the other, his amber eyes seemed to be  losing their light. "Just...let us explain, though I don't expect you to  believe me. Let us try."

Tae took a deep breath, his hands shaking. "Okay...yes...okay."

/

"You...he really... Yoongi, fuck. That's not even-"

"You think I'd  believe this shit if there wasn't hard proof. There's too many things he knew, too many details...it's true."

" Jiminie , I can't  believe it's you...or, not you but still... kinda you?" 

Jimin smiled, sheepish. "Kinda me." he confirmed. "A different me."

"Tae, please don't let this go any further. I don't know why but...I think it wouldn't be a good thing."

"No...no of course. I'll keep quiet."

Yoongi nodded, shifting  awkwardly in his seat and sipping his warm water. "Thanks... for this and the money."

Tae shook his head. "Don't worry... I would have had a plant for you too if I didn't  lose my shit. I called him Shishi. Rest in peace poor buddy."

"You're mentally disturbed."

Tae grinned and in a mad moment, Yoongi almost grinned back. But then Jimin spoke up and saved him. "I'm really sorry, I'm sorry I can't remember you. I'll try harder" 

"Ah! Don't be silly! Why should you? You don't know me. Not really. Still, even if it's not the you I know, at least I can see a  sorta similar Jiminie again." 

Jimin couldn't seem to form his words and Yoongi watched him struggle with a frown. "How are they? Jihyun? Eomma and Appa? Do you know what happened to them? Were they very sad?" 

Tae's jaw set, his lips pressed together. "I could lie, but I wouldnt insult you like that. They were distraught. Especially Jihyun... I remember having to pull him away from the casket as they lowered you down" Jimin closed his eyes and for a second Yoongi thought he might cry. But he plastered on a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Kay..."

"It's so good to see you Jiminie, you have no idea." Taehyung  breathed; droplets gathered at the corners of his chocolate eyes. "Can I hug you? Is that weird? Maybe it's weird." 

Jimin snorted and stood, brushing off his pants, arms open wide. "Bring it in, me new old friend."

Tae beamed a watery smile and bounded into his arms, holding onto him tight. "I thought I'd never see you again." he croaked.

"I  know. Thank you for everything. And even if I'm not your  Jiminie ...we were friends once. I hope we can be again." Jimin pulled back, cupping his cheeks. 

"Me too...it's so nice to see your face."

Not sure what to say, Yoongi took over, rising to his feet. "It's getting late, you should get back."

Tae nodded, stiffly and pulled away from Jimin. "I'll see you soon?"

"Yes.  Of course, you will."

He nodded and Yoongi walked him out to the landing. "Hey..." he mumbled, hand on Tae's shoulder, the younger turned to him surprised. "Thanks."

"Don't... It's nothing."

"No, I mean it. I've not been good to you."

"I know why."

Yoongi shook his head. "That wasn't your fault." 

"Still, I wasn't as brave as you were. As you are..." he corrected "To refuse their safety net, to leave and never look back." 

"You think I never looked back? No... no, do it the right way. Don't be irrational as I was, make sure you're set up first."

"Noted, Captain." Tae smirked, saluting his cousin as he turned away. "Goodnight, Hyung."

"Yeah, night."

When Tae was gone, Yoongi shut the door behind him and found Jimin in kitchen scrubbing at the leftover pans from dinner. He approached the pass with his arms crossed.

"Do you always do that?" 

Jimin froze, his shoulders tense but his voice faint. "...Do what?" 

"That...lie to yourself and to everyone else. Cover all the pain with a smile. Pretend  everything's rosy when its turning to shit." 

Jimin shrugged. "Maybe. But what would you have me do instead? Cry?" 

"You should really be honest with yourself at  least ,  no one else will be. Your parents and brother are out there in pain while you standing here in my kitchen like nothing has even..." 

Jimin threw down the rag with a slap and turned to him, something powerful burning behind his eyes. "So what? They've seen their eldest on a slab and they've grieved for all these years. What would it do to them if I waltzed back into their lives alive and kicking? What's the point of me torturing myself with an idea that can never come to light?"

"You're here with me... what if this could never come to light either." 

"It's not the same." 

"Why not?" 

"You didn't know me  then; you don't know me now. Still, you fell in love with me. If you fell for me once then why not again?"

Yoongi groaned. "Jimin... You're gonna get hurt." 

"Then so be it. I won't give in. .. you're all I have." 

The silence that followed was a heavy one. "There's more...there's more that you're not telling me."

Jimin laughed, the first tear tumbling and glistening on his cheek. He shook his head and Yoongi was taken by the blow to his chest. "You're right...aish, you're always right." he dabbed his delicate under eyes with his sleeve. "It-it seems that here, they had yet to discover my preference for men..." 

Yoongi blinked. "Oh. They were..." 

"Not all of them." he sniffled. " Jihyunnie , he tried to reach out. But it was hard, he was young and we lost touch." He smiled, so very forlorn. "So maybe...in a way, this is perfect. I still get a chance to be yours and my  parents don't shudder when they hear my name." 

Yoongi swallowed, a gulping breath. "Jimin...you shouldn't count on me. I'm not a safe bet." 

"I think I need some air." Jimin cut in moving, passing him by and leaving Yoongi to shiver as he pushed open the doors and climbed onto the tiny balcony alone. And as he gripped at the railing, he looked so very small. Yoongi could hold up a thumb and cover him completely.

Yoongi was struck with the sudden, heart pounding urge to protect him. Mad visions flooding his  psyche of  Yoongi throwing fists with a Park Jimin look-a-like who was riddled by age and fraught with wrinkles. But he pushed the sweeping surge of adrenaline down and when his eyes turned back to the balcony...

He was gone.

"Shit."  Yoongi shot like a bullet out onto the blustering balcony, peering with a heavy heart over the edge. The younger was below, tumbling from the cluster of bushes and out onto the pavement,  unconscious . 

No. No, fuck no.

"Jimin-ah!"


	5. The Beat Of My Body Smooths The Edges

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which a haunting face comes back to Yoongi and has him spilling secrets from his past, Jimin questions whether his love for this new Yoongi can hold up and they boys give Yoongi a new/old bounce in his step.

"JIMIN! Jimin-ah!" 

Though his  shrieks triggered and domino effect of barking dogs and  twitching curtains, the amber angel remained still.

"Shit..." Yoongi breathed darting for the door and out past a sleepy eyed Hoseok. "Yoongi!" he rasped. "What's going on?"

Yoongi skidded to a stop at the top of the stairs. "Call an  ambulance . Keep Hope inside."

"But who..."

"Just do it!"

His feet slapped against the cold tile and he  descended the stairs, and the few seconds of silence between his apartment and Jimin were  unbearable . But  finally, he got to him, just a huddled bump on the pavement and thankfully he didn't bleed.

He was breathing too, but it was shallow...laboured. "Jimin-ah? Jimin?" Yoongi murmured hand, sliding under to cup the back of his head. "Jimin!" he growled hand at his waist and shaking the younger's side. But he didn't move. "Shit."

Suddenly bell chimed in his head. "Taehyung." he pulled his phone from his back  pocket and scrambled in his contacts to find Taehyung. Punching the green button, he shifted Jimin's head so it was nestled in his lamp.

"Come on, for fuck s-" Yoongi was cut off when the chirp of the ringtone was cut and replaced by a deep voice.

"Hyung? I'm just driving but I-"

"How far away are you?"

Tae's tone flattened. "Why? What did you need?"

"Jimin fell from the balcony, the bushes broke his fall, but his breathing funny and I don't fucking know CPR, but I you took that class in Highschool right? If he stops breathing I-"

"I'm nearly there."

The drone of the  hung-up phone vibrated his ear lobe and  Yoongi looked up to a flash of head lamps as Taehyung pulled up. 

As he exited the car the elder blinked, arms shaking and heart thundering. "How did you-"

"I called  Namjoonie before I set off, I'd only just left," he murmured, dropping to his knees beside them and taking Jimin's wrist. He pressed his middle and index fingers to the skin as the sirens screeched in the distance. "His heart beat is slow but not skipping. It might have been a drop in blood pressure, but we still have to get him to  hospital I think. Keep talking to him while I check for any breaks.

Yoongi swallowed, all aflutter. "Um...J-Jimin-ah? Jimin? Can you...if you can hear then...then here-" he took Jimin's tiny limp hand in his own. "Squeeze, even a little."

Yoongi watched his paled face closely. No movement.

"Come on..." he murmured, desperate to see even a  twitch of his  fingertips . 

"I can't find a break. Did you say he fell?"

Yoongi swallowed and red and blue lights appeared on the horizon. "I don't know." 

/

The walls were white and the lights were too bright, the reflection of the tiles burning a dream like glare around the  circle of his retina.  Yoongi paced the corridors as Tae watched from the bench, the elder like anxious pup awaiting his human's return.

Was that who he was to him? 

His human?

People moved around Yoongi, some even attempted to call his name. But Yoongi paced his path unresponsive until morning, when the elder woman arrived with her clipboard and notes in hand. 

Tae rose to his feet as Yoongi froze. "Is he okay?" the younger slurred, still half asleep. Yoongi did not speak.

She nodded, tucking a stray  tendril of hair behind her ear and scanning the list with her pen. "He's fine. He's sleeping." she assured. "It seems he fainted. His  serotonin levels are very low and his heart was very slow too, putting him into a sort of sudden sleep. Do you know if he has any problems with low blood pressure?"

Tae's eyes flickered to  Yoongi who looked almost faint. "No. .. we don't sorry."

"No that's fine! He's asleep but you can see him if you'd like! He's stable."

Before she could even finish  Yoongi had breezed past her, her eyes widened in  surprise . Tae grimaced. "Sorry..."

Tae pushed into the room and found Yoongi motionless by his bed, staring down hopelessly at his face... lost.

He looked much better, there was a pinkness to his cheeks. A few scratches on his arms and mask that covered his mouth but other than that, he could simply be sleeping. Yoongi moved forward slowly into the light, the monitor's steady bleep quiet even in the foreground. 

Yoongi lowered himself into the seat beside him, took his hand and squeezed it. "Squeeze back if you can hear me." he whispered.

Suddenly, feeling like he was intruding, Tae took his moment to bow out, leaving the two of them alone and knowing that with Yoongi, Jimin would be safe.

/

The curl of his fingers had an exhausted Yoongi flooded from top to toe with a sudden energy. He bolted upright and was met with two hooded eyes, so pretty Yoongi almost smiled. "You stayed with me..." came the first words, muffled by the mask.

"Y-yeah..."

When Jimin went to remove the mask, Yoongi's hand caught his wrist. "Fuck, no! Are you crazy?! Keep it-"

"It's okay." Jimin whispered. "I can  breathe . See?" he nodded to the monitor where his oxygen levels were steady.

Unsure,  Yoongi let Jimin remove the mask regardless and the younger set it aside, shifting  awkwardly until he was at least half upright. "How long-"

"Did you jump?" the choked phrase had the monitor flicker and both of them turn to it. 

Jimin turned back to him. "What do you mean?"

"Did you jump?" he repeated, brows all knitted up and pinched.

"Wh-No! Yoongi, of course not! Why would I do such a thing?!"

The  elder's hands were pulled away, leaving Jimin's heart to tumble and  Yoongi wrung them in his lap. "Before you even came  along, I'd stopped that shit. The casual sex, the compulsive swiping, staying out till silly hours, taking god knows what and ending up god knows where. If I drank I did it home, if I stole it was for a purpose. Or at least that's what I told myself." he lifted his head, his hair wilted and his lips lax. "I was so jaded back then, you  woulda hated my guts."

"I w-"

"You would." Yoongi promised. "And I wouldn't blame you."

"Yoongi..." 

"I saw them all as nothing but holes with pretty faces and I left a trail of broken hearts that could circle the damn Earth twice, but when he..." he stopped to take a breath, eyes welling with tears he couldn't quite allow to fall. "He just fucking jumped and I  didn't ...I didn't know what the fuck to do. It was my  fault; he was gone and it was my fault. It was my fucking fault. Fuck Jimin, I thought you'd..." 

The elder pressed his tangled fingers to his forehead like a prayer and his words engulfed the younger in the full body lilt of realisation. The culmination of his  resistance when it came to Jimin boiled down to a handful of moments lain from  its roots in his past. And this was the most  poignant .

Jimin pushed himself up a little more and he lay a palm on the side of his neck, for a moment, everything within Yoongi felt still. He could breathe a deep breath. "Can I hug you? Just 'til you stop trembling?"

Yoongi didn't answer, he simply let younger pull him in and cradle his head in the crook of his neck. Jimin admitted then, that maybe it didn't feel like it did before. Things were  different here, so instead of coming in full force, he'd slow down, let  Yoongi lead. He'd focus on just being there. That's what this  Yoongi really seemed to need from him.

A quiet love.

"I'm bad Jimin... I'm a bad person. And you should run while you still have the chance."

"No."

"I'm here, I'm giving you the all clear. I won't be  angry; I won't get hurt."

"I will not and you are not. You were broken, that's true and now you're mending yourself. Nobody is pure. Purity at our age is like pixie dust." 

"I killed him." 

"He killed himself." Jimin's firm tone was unlike anything  Yoongi had heard from him before. No broken words or wavering. It was certain and it refused to back down. "Maybe the way you treated this guy was wrong, but...but you can't take  responsibility for his life. His life was his own, he chose to end it. If he felt weak in himself then you weren't to know that. Happiness is a choice. And if you  weren't forcing him into his  situation, they no real fault can lie with you. It's sad, it's very sad and it breaks my heart to think how shattered he must have been before he even met you. But if the only thing you are guilty of is being unkind then they could have very well lain the blame at the feet of a thousand other people he might have crossed before."

Yoongi didn't move, but the tears had stopped welling. He should have pulled away, he'd meant to... but he didn't.

It was so warm there, and he was safe and sound.

/ 

They took a cab home on  Yoongi's insistence . Though he could happily carry Jimin, it would save the stares and Jimin  wasn't strong enough to walk the whole way. When they came onto Market Street from the south, it felt...different. 

It was as though they were traveling back in time, each shop and street corner a memory. Ghosts scarred across the land, of times past.

The piano store had filled it's window pane now, and Namjoon's car was parked outside Gnammy. Then with a jump he saw the boy; back outside the GS25 and under fire from a hailstorm of eggs.

Yoongi wondered for a moment if he should stop the cab...scare them shitless. But with Jimin curled against his shoulder, lost in the lightest of sleeps, he decided no.

The kid would have to fend for himself.

/

The apartment too seemed strange when they entered, on the rack, Jimin's clothes were drying next to his. The books that had been piled up and gathering dust, were now clean and lined in colour order. The dishes were washed and lay like new on the draining board.

And somehow it felt  altogether less barren. The floorboards warmer from the body heat, the sofa laced with Jimin's scent. 

What once was a house was becoming a home. The idea caught Yoongi off  guard .

"Can..." Jimin rasped, shuffling along toward the kitchen. "Can I make us a late lunch? I'm famished."

Yoongi frowned. "You don't have to ask me to eat. You bought the food."

"Oh..." Jimin tilted his head. "I forgot." he chuckled.

He  rummaged in the cupboard, in the fridge and the draws and got started on a quick batch of noodle soup with Kimchi broth.

Yoongi watched him as he did before, but this time, they were much comfortable with his gaze, even when Yoongi felt sheepish from his emotional blip.

There was  something soothing about it that he could barely place. Be it the smell, the sound of bubbling water or the hum of Jimin's throat as he tasted his broth and reached for the salt. It was so easy. It seemed so easy. One smile shot over the younger's shoulder and he was nearly gone for good.

And that was why he could'nt do this. Easy had never really existed for Yoongi and to have something so perfect just to loose it... that really was his most profound fear.

Jimin ushered him over to the lounge with a wave of his tea towel. "Go sit, I'll bring it out to you. Do you want soda or water?"

"Uh...we have soda?"

"Mhm. Is diet coke still your favourite?"

"Yeah...uh yeah. I'll have that. Diet coke."

Jimin chuckled rubbing his tired eyes with his sleeve, but seeming much brighter than before. "Mmm, Here, take these." he pulled open the fridge and took one can and one bottle, handing to Yoongi through the hatch. "I'll get the food."

Yoongi trundled over to sofa in deep thought and set the drinks down on his makeshift coffee table; an upturned apple crate he swiped from the fruit stall. Jimin came  moments later with two steaming bowls of  reddish liquid, noodles and braised meat. 

"You look hungry." Jimin murmured, placing the soup down before him. 

Yoongi's lashes fluttered down at it, stirring it a little with his chopstick. He suddenly lay his  utensil aside, Jimin frozen half way through a mouthful. "I should have cooked for you today."

"Mm." Jimin slurped his noodles up and talked muffled through his hand, his cheeks chipmunked with food. "I'm fine. M'just tired. Eat."

Yoongi hesitated, but Jimin's animated chopstick gestures cracked him and he took a first mouthful. He ate slowly, most of the time just stirring and watching the other. Jimin was pink-cheeked and bashful as he pushed away his empty bowl only six minutes later. "Uh... I don't normally eat like that."

"Mm. Here." he shoved his bowl toward him. Jimin's cheeks burned brighter. 

"Oh nononono! You need to-"

"I'm fine...and you need your strength." The elder pulled his phone, his cigs and a lighter from his pocket, tossing Jimin the phone. He caught it. "Call Taehyung. Namjoon. Whoever. And then I dunno... go wild. I dunno how diffrent this world is to yours so. Do a little digging or some shit I dunno." He shrugged. "Just don't answer any calls or read any texts."

Jimin smiled fondly down at the device. "That's... really thoughtful. Not that Im' surprised."

A little flustered, Yoongi shrugged. "The passcode is-"

"Your birthday?" Yoongi blanched. Jimin met his gaze, lips curved up tenderly. "Been there." he explained.

Yoongi said nothing further. Just nodded, bowed, blushed and left for the balcony, grabbing his notepad and pen as he went from coffee table. 

He stayed there long ways into the night, Jimin curled in a kernel on the sofa with just a thin blanket to cover him. He watched the tendrils of smoke cloud him, watched Yoongi scribble onto the notepad and shift under his gaze. 

Jimin smiled as the gentle melody of Yiruma's 'Maybe' lulled him from the phone, the last few glimpses of Yoongi before he slipped under, would reel like a roll of film in his dreams.

Yoongi allowed once more for his eyes to pass the younger from afar, the curve of his lips...so soft, lush and pink. He decided then that besides when he smiled, this was where Jimin was at his  absolute prettiest.

Completely untouched and untainted by the land of living. And though  Yoongi struggled to keep his eyes open, fighting against his body to stay alert just  in case ... he was pulled under too. Where he saw nothing but Jimin's lips forming the prettiest of words.

/

Jimin inevitably woke first, but this had always been the case, even in his timeline too.  Yoongi was an  infamously grumpy riser, even worse when woken, so he covered the elder with his blanket, allowing his fingers to bring  goose bumps along the side if his neck. Something about it hailed a prideful sweep to his heartbeat. He was glad he could still  affect him , even a little.

When Yoongi woke, it was to a short state of panic, his body covered and Jimin gone. He chanced a look over the railing but found nothing to his relief. Instead he followed the rushing of the shower as his senses adjusted to the real world.

As he stepped into the apartment,  more airy than it had  ever been, he was greeted by a sweet, sultry song from Jimin's lips.

He smirked to himself, rather bemused. He was good. He'd have made the perfect idol in another life.

His soul settled but his throat dry from the cigarettes, he vetured into the kitchen for water and on his first gulp came a knock, so unsure Yoongi thought they might have come to the wrong door.

But on opening it, Yoongi's thoughts were quickly squashed.

"Hey..." Eunwoo whispered, adjusting his glasses and pushing them up his nose. A shy smile bent upon his too perfect lips. "I was just wondering if-"

"Why the fuck are you here."

"I wanted to-"

"How the fuck are you here?"

"I-"

"GET OUT!" 

But Eunwoo shoved a thigh between the door and the frame, as Yoongi attempted to slam it, tears sparkling and clinging to his dark lashes. "Hyung, please don't-"

"I don't want you! I don't want you in here anymore!  It was just sex, why couldn't you ACCEPT that." he shoved him hard and the younger tripped on his own feet, falling to the floor, his glasses slipping from his face and cracking on the tile. With a heaving breath  Yoongi slammed the door shut and fell back against it, panting, eyes closed against the surge of panic.

But when he opened them Jimin was waiting, pale face, narrowed eyes, his hair still dripping. It was a glare that felt like knives to Yoongi's chest. "Wow..."

Yoongi's lashes fluttered as he stumbled to his feet and across the room. "Jimin..."

"Don't." he held up a palm and  Yoongi froze in place. "You know I really did  believe the tale you told me back there. I really felt for you. But if it's true, it means that you really haven't changed at all. How could you do that to him?"

"I. .. you don't-"

"Was all that shit just a lie? Why?  So  I'd let my  guard down?  So you could get in my pants or something? I could even accept that if it wasn't a lie founded on a subject so sensitive. If this is who you truly are in this world, I doubt it will be long before my love fades."

"No I. .. Just listen to me, fuck!"  Yoongi cried.

"Why?! So you can spin me some new tale. Is that why you spent the whole day yesterday on that balcony, were you so irked that I didn't just drop my pants as soon as you showed me a little respect." 

"No. .. Jimin ..." 

"Because I had more respect for you than that, and I thought you had at least enough regard for me to not assume I'd use such a tragic story and such 'vulnerability' to dig in my claws and keep you. But I guess you really do just see me as another hole with a pretty face." 

Yoongi couldn't move as Jimin brushed past him. "Where are you going?" he croaked.

"Why should you care? You never wanted me here anyway. You never wanted any of us."

The door slammed shut and  Yoongi was left alone...breathless. His heart hammering like a war drum in his chest. With the anxiety rising like bile, he couldn't stew in the silence any longer. He tore open the door and tailed Jimin, but as he left for the  Highstreet he was nowhere to be seen.

He followed his usual paths, weaving in and out of the backstreets until he passed the GS25 and a familiar scene unfolded before his eyes.

He stopped. Something stopped him.

The kid as always was curled feotal in the dirt, a healed wound reopened on his cheek. A chorous of jeers surrounded him, as the kicked up the asphalt into his face. "Yeah, you're back where you belong huh, Jungkook?"

Yoongi's fingers trembled, torn between the boy and salvaging what was left his  reputation . "Fuck." he growled.

His pounded down the alleyway, yanking the main perpetrator by his sweaty neck and slamming him up against the brick. "You think three against one makes you  tough huh?" He spat. "Why don't you try hitting me, huh bad man?" 

When he felt hands on his shoulders, he drove both his elbows into their ribs and his knee into the  taller's crotch. With them doubled over he pulled the crouched victim to his feet and behind his body. "If I hear you've harmed a fucking hair on his  head, I won't leave you so  intact " he warned them, eyes dark. "Get out of here. LEAVE. Now!"

His snarl had them scurrying and scattering and when they were gone, he became sharply aware of the hands still clung to his shirt. Yoongi rolled his eyes, reached behind him and pulled the kid away. He turned to him with narrowed eyes and the younger bowed his head under his gaze.

"You got a fucking choice in this life. You can let them keep shoving you into dirt or you can fight back. I suggest you chose the latter and teach them a valuable lesson. You look broad for your  age, you could take them."

Kookie nodded, bowing his head respectfully. 

Yoongi sighed, exhausted and moved away, shuffling with heavy limbs back towards his block, acutely aware of his  shadow . He growled and whipped back, the kid flinching at his sudden movement. "What? What do you want. "

He shifted on his feet all bashful, but didn't speak.

"Well? You a mute or something? Answer me."

He shook his head, still not able to lift it. "N-no, I'm shy. I'm sorry."

Yoongi opened his mouth the apologise but couldn't form the words. He sighed and turned away, and though the boy  hesitated he followed.  Yoongi didn't bother to turn back and reprimand him.

When he reached his building he couldn't either, because Jimin was waiting for him under the porch, wet from what he assumed to be rain and a  non-existent wind whipping his hair.

Yoongi swept forward leaving the kid to loiter in the courtyard. "Jimin-ah... fuck you're all damp, I-"

But before he could apologise Jimin spoke, his eyes softened from stone to silk. "I'm sorry..."

Yoongi's eyes tapered into a squint as he tried to  decipher his meaning. But he was at a loss. "I don't know what you mean?"

Jimin smiled, sheepish. "I said some really nasty things back there and I don't expect you to forgive me. After I had time to think, I regretted them all. I was always too sensitive like this. But just...seeing his face, when I see someone in pain like that...I guess it made me assume the worst. But then I really thought about it. About how hard it would be to see another person..." 

"But, Jimin-ah he-" 

"Please don't. You don't need to explain yourself to me. You were scared. I can see that now when  I think back. I jumped ahead of myself and treated you like so many people will have done in the past. You don't want them close because if they love you, you can't love them back. You're scared of what will happen to him right? If he can't stop loving you."

Yoongi took a breath and closed his eyes unable to bear the earnest expression that looked back at him.

"When you're scared you lose your head. It was always the case, though it wasn't quite as intense as you are now. You're different. You're still you but you're  different . For me to expect certain things of you is unfair. You're still right here, just...filtered through other circumstances. I should be happy with that...to have you at all. I was presumptuous, greedy and ungrateful. "

The elder couldn't find the worlds to match Jimin's. His compassion was astounding and Yoongi was sure he'd done very little to deserve it. 

Jimin's head popped around Yoongi's shoulder, as he spotted the kid swaying in the background like a lone tree. "Who's this?"

The kid jumped like a cable, came forward and bowed. Yoongi blinked. "Oh- uh...I think his name is Jungkook." The boy nodded. "He was...some boys had him on the floor by the convinience store and they sorta..."

"Hyung saved me." Jungkook blurted, Yoongi was ruffled by his sudden clear tone, the younger ducked his head once more. 

Jimin smiled on at them, pride running like ribbon through his expression. He took the younger's cheeks in palms, Kookie blinking rapidly at the sudden touch. Jimin sucked a breath through his teeth. "That is a nasty one. We should clean it first, right Yoongi-yah?"

The elder nodded woodenly and punched in the code as Jimin pulled Jungkook by his hand to the front door.

/

Graceful, dancer's fingers gracefully wrung the water from a clean cloth and dabbed it gingerly across the wound. Kookie's jaw locked, refusing to whine his way through the pain. Jimin noticed it and smirked. "It hurts right?" The younger nodded and deflated, a long breath expelled from his chest. "I know. When I was dancer, I'd get kicked in face daily, it always brought tears to my eyes."

Kookie straightened up, Jimin's confession feeding him the confidence he needed. But the next person who spoke was  Yoongi . "You were gone. For days. Where did you go?" Kookie frowned, confused and  Yoongi bowed his head as he played with a loose tread on arm of the sofa. "I saw you walk that way all the time...when you  stopped, I thought something bad might have happened."

"I walked there to see my grandmother. She died a few days ago.  So, I don't walk there anymore." he rasped, his voice so very demure. "I came yesterday to collect some of her things and I only came by today because...because I forgot for a second that she was gone." 

Jimin's lips pushed themselves into a pout. "I'm sorry that happened Jungkookie. What was her name?"

"Um...Jeon Minjung" 

And suddenly, it slotted into place like two puzzle  pieces . "Wait... you're Jeon Jungkook? As in the mayor's son?"

"When he wants me to be." Yoongi's heart leapt in his chest. Kookie smiled, forlorn. "He never really wanted me. I don't know why... do you think it's because I'm too weak?"

"No." Yoongi told him firmly. "No, for a father not to love his son... then it's him who's weak."

Jimin and Jungkook smiled together, and the dancer handed Jungkook a tissue. "Press this to the cut. It will stop the blood flow."

/

It was Yoongi who decided they'd walk Jungkook to the bus stop, after they'd fed him up and he was on his way to a day of school. Luckily, the boys were not waiting and he hopped on with joyful little wave from the window.

The two men walked back to the apartment together as the sun rose to  its highest point and began its slow decline. Jimin shivered under the gust of a phantom wind and  Yoongi sighed, slipping off his jacket. Soft starburst snowflakes began to fall on Jimin alone, stark against his  obsidian locks.  Yoongi threw his jacket like a hood over Jimin's head, protecting him from the chill.

Jimin smiled up at him from under his lashes and Yoongi turned away, his pale cheeks painted rose. "You were sweet with him."

Yoongi grunted. "With who?"

"You know who." Jimin snorted. "You were always soft with babies. With any kids really. It's one of those parts of you that hasn't changed from my world to yours. I think you were born to be a father. It always got me sad that I could never give that to you." 

Yoongi slowed to a stop, a sudden warmth flooding him from the top of his head, down to the tip of his toes. Jimin stopped too, when he realised Yoongi wasn't with him. "Yoongi?" he murmured, Yoongi's glassy eyes snapped back up. "You coming?"

Swallowing, Yoongi nodded and he joined Jimin back on their journey home.

/

When stars scattered the sky from west to east, Yoongi found himself sleepily staring at Jimin from the balcony, like he did the night before. This time, through the haze of slumber, Jimin was frowning, bundled in Yoongi's hoodie and the duvet that Yoongi had tucked around him once he was sure he was gone deep.

He lay like wingless angel, cheek smushed against his hands and his lashes fluttering. So pale under the moonlight compared to the day. The word that sprung to mind was ethereal. He well a truly didn't seem part of this world. Or any that Yoongi could realistically fathom.

As the breeze came, Jimin's body was wracked with a shiver and Yoongi was on his feet in that instant, stubbing out his cig and stepping into the apartment, sliding the door shut behind him.

Yoongi couldn't help it, he stared. The atmosphere in the room laced with something as near to magic as Yoongi thought possible. He approached Jimin carefully, avoiding all know creaks in the floorboards. He crouched before him, fingers hovering above his face.

When his fingers found his skin there weren't fireworks as expected, but something much more  valuable .  Yoongi felt him and knew he was there. He was real. A solid entity. One that willingly gave himself to  Yoongi despite all  Yoongi's notable flaws. 

The words Jimin spoke rang out in his mind.  _ "I guess you really do just see me as another hole with a pretty face. _ "  Yoongi shook his head.

"They deserved better." he whispered, and after a moment of contemplation added: "But you deserve the world."

The low, loving timbre of Yoongi's voice had Jimin mumbling in his sleep, nuzzling his cheek into Yoongi's warm palm. "M'Yoogi" he murmured. "Luff you."

Something moved within him, his heart, his soul, the very core of his being. Yoongi moved down and captured those rose petal lips in his own, drawing the younger, gently back to the real world. 

As he pulled away the younger blinked up at him, neither astonished or at ease. Yoongi's face floated nearer and the younger's eyes fluttered shut. But, with a nudge of Yoongi's nose against his, Yoongi pulled back. Just far enough that Jimin's sleepy eyes could focus on his face, breathless. "Don't be out on balcony without me." 

Oh, Jimin realised, his heart twisting with guilt. Yoongi had not been avoiding him that day. He'd been out there all day to be safe. Just in case Jimin had lied and really had decided to jump. 

Jimin nodded. "I promise."

Yoongi leant up, pulling away from the weight of Jimin's gaze and feeling the tidal wave rush in, he left for his bed. As his hand grasped the screen, Jimin called his name. "Yoongi?" The elder stopped, but did not speak. "I won't jump. Not while you still live."

There were so many things that Yoongi left unsaid, but in that moment, it was all too much to mould into a coherent thought. Without a word he pulled the screen out and he undressed himself in silence.

He only allowed himself to sleep, when he heard Jimin's soft snores echo through the apartment, his new personal lullaby.

/

The elder woke to the chirp of birds and the chill of fall. It seemed the insufferable stuffiness of the heatwave was well and truly over and Autumn was coming fast. Without the rush of water, the sizzle of the pan or a flick of the page, he knew Jimin must have gone out. He wondered for a moment if he'd wrapped up.

Yoongi turned his head on the pillow, his finger drawing a line  from the head of the  mattress down, he imagined what it might be like to wake up with a lover besides him. A  warm body, a molten gaze...like honey...or liquid amber.

Desperately snapping himself out of such thoughts, he rolled out of bed, and searched for something comfy in his draws. His eyes caught the hamper, now empty. Jimin must have come in to collect the clothes. 

The thought of it sent shivers down his spine as he touched his lips and remembered the way Jimin's felt against his.

Eventually he focused long enough to pull on the shorts and a navy sweater. Ducking from behind the screen he was greeted by a pot of coffee and a plate of toast, a note tucked into under the teacup. 

_ Gone to wash the clothes. Eat up! I hope the coffee isn't cold. _

_ -J _

Yoongi was grateful beyond words that the younger had not brought up this kiss. Because  Yoongi didn't know what to tell him. He didn't know why he did it. It was neither from duty, pity nor from pure  curiosity .

He just...had too. He had to for reasons he didn't know.

Those lips were all apple of Eden and no sin. Both entirely pure and just as equally seductive.

As Yoongi settled down on the sofa flicking through his phone he hummed, the room smelled of Park Jimin...and it wasn't as unbearable as he thought. In fact, he filled four pages with lines and lyrics while Jimin was gone.

Maybe this was what he meant by they made art together. Maybe this was what Yoongi was feeling? Was Park Jimin his... muse?

/ 

Yoongi checked this time before he opened the door. The hearty rap of knuckles had come from a  familiar face, one that had  Yoongi's heart sinking like a  sand timer .

But he wouldn't run away. Not anymore. He unlatched the door and tugged it open. The handsome owner of the piano store stared back at him, eyes searching his face with a lazy sort of  curiosity . "Hey, I'm Kim Seokjin." he held out a hand for shaking,  Yoongi took it wearily. "I think you've seen me before, I..."

"I know." Yoongi sighed. "I know why you're here."

"Do you?" he asked, amused.

"It's obvious, isn't it?" he grumbled, moving from his path. "Come in then."

Jin hummed and strolled inside, entirely too much bounce in his step for  Yoongi's mood. " So, I-"

"How much." Yoongi cut in, as the door clicked shut. Jin turned to him, the left side of his locks golden in the sunlight. "How much do you want?"

"Excuse me?"

Yoongi frowned, approaching him with caution. "You're here for the  money, right? For the window."

"Oh, no the window is fixed and you will repay me, but not with money."

"Buh-but,"  Yoongi's mind was flooded with a thousand  different outcomes and all were bad. "But I don't have anything to give you but money and I don't really have much of that because I had to give some away to my friend who was, well at the time he was-"

"Aish, calm down!"  Jin waved his hands at him, slightly  irritated but not seriously so. "I don't want your money. I have a  proposition for you."

Yoongi squinted at him from across the room. "A..."

"Jimin-ah told me once that you play unlike anyone he'd ever heard and Hoseokie mentioned that you were curiously kind toward kids." 

"How do... you know Hoseok?" 

Jin nodded, a sly smile on his pillowy lips. "He danced with Jimin-ah outside my shop. That and I'm dating him." 

"When the hell did he-" 

"ANYWAY, my proposition is this: You will work for me, you will busk with Jimin so that he can earn too, the two of you will promote my store together each day, and you, Min Yoongi will give lessons to the kids free of charge until you pay off your debt."

"And... after?"

"After, I will pay you a wage." 

"But I- where? Like...at the store?" 

Jin shook his head a twinkle in his caramel eyes. "Nope..." 

"But then how do I..." 

"I'm giving it to you. The  brown piano ." 

For long while  Yoongi didn't speak, stuck still and trapped in the honey like coating of his words. Something that meant more than he thought  Jin could understand,  constantly in his eye line but never his. And in one instant, it belonged to him. He not only had the means to pursue his one everlasting passion, but he could turn said passion into a  pseudo career.

Jin waved his palm before his eyes as the fourth minute passed without a word from the younger. "You gonna faint or..."

"Why would you do that for me?" his voice trembled as he spoke, under the weight of emotion that rushed in.

Jin breathed a funny little laugh. " Let's just say you were given great  reference ." He moved past  Yoongi , back to the door and pushed the handle down before he pulled it open.

The full rainbow of  Yoongi's existence stared back. Namjoon and Jungkook, with bags of hot food wafting delicious scents into his sitting room. Hobi too, with Hope bouncing on his hip clutching a  piece of paper depicting what looked like the eight of them together. Beside her was Tae a woven pot hugged to his chest, his eyes  peeking out from behind the lush jade  leaves. Then there was Jimin, perched on the bench by the brown piano. He turned to meet his eyes, a smile so pure and blinding that  Yoongi almost crossed the room and did something stupid like kiss him. 

"I-I don't..."

"Hey, Hyung!" Tae called holding out his plant. "ME AND HOPEY CALLED HIM NORMAN FOR YOU."

Hope clapped as Hobi set her down and she shot across the room, her ponytail bouncing. She jumped up into  Yoongi's waiting arms and waved her little painting proudly, everyone  depicted in a  different shade of purple. "I even put Normie in on my picture for you!"

Yoongi laughed, breathless. "Jungkook..." he murmured, completely and utterly bewildered. "Even you?"

Kookie shrugged. "I was waiting outside the building this morning hoping you would come down. I wanted to thank you. But instead I met Hyung on his way out. He asked me to help..."

Said Hyung jumped from the piano seat and lifted it up, carrying it inside and placing it down in the spot by the divider. "Over  here, I think! Tae, we can put Norman right beside it! I think he'll get plenty of sunshine there!"

"You gonna give us a tune, Hyung?" Namjoon asked, as he and Hobi rolled it into place and Jin fluffed up Norman's leaves as Tae set him down.

"I uh..."

" Yes, please Unca  Yoofie !" Hope  squeed . And  Yoongi as always melted.

"Yah!" Hobi purred pushing his hair from his eyes. "You can't deny my precious baby girl!"

Yoongi snorted. "Fine!" The  chorus of cheers had him blushing and he handed Hope's little painting to Jungkook. "Put this on the fridge door? Use the D-Town magnet to hold it up." Kookie nodded, smiling down at the stick figures as he scurried off. He turned then to Jimin, much closer to him than he remembered and he flushed pink from his cheeks to his ears. "You  wanna watch with Jimin,  Hopey ?"

"Uhuh!" Jimin took her from his arms and something about the way their noses nuzzled had Yoongi's heart all aflutter.

The all settled down as Jungkook returned and as  Yoongi slid onto the bench in one swift.  practiced move. By the crate, up on the couch, they all waited for him with bated breath. 

But his hands couldn't seem to move.

It's like if he dared let his fingers fall upon the keys, they'd all simmer away; the piano, the painting and Norman along with them.

But when his eyes flickered back, and were captured like fireflies by Jimin's, the joy began to bloom, picking up speed and power. And what was that? 

A smile?

He realised he was in the midst of an event that was as rare and a beautiful as a  comet traversing their skies. 

He was happy.

Jimin tilted his head,  inquisitive . It was all down to him...he the catalyst of it all. And when the younger smiled, the music surged through his veins like liquid gold and his fingers pressed down upon keys.

Seven sets of eyes burst, like moons and stars  colliding and in a burst of light,  Yoongi took them on the lilt of his melody to another world, suspending them in a place with no space or time.

He played them 'Marriage D'Amour'. The marriage of love. But it didn't quiet mean to him what the composer had intended for it. 

For him the marriage of love was right there before him, every possible strand and strain of love all come together for him to form the most perfect love of all. That love that carried him through the song as it carried him through life.

And all but Jimin were left stunned a speechless when it  came to a close. Not because he didn't conceive any real beauty in it. But because he was already well aware of what Min  Yoongi was capable of.


	6. The Beat Of My Heart Has Him Crumbled.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Yoonmin push and pull like a yoyo. And they come to accept and appricate what they have now.
> 
> Also sex.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos make me smileeeeeeeeee <3

As little Hope grew sleepy and clung to her Dad's chest like a baby koala bear,  Yoongi cleared his room for their  convenience .

"We can go home if it's-"

But Hope whined, nuzzling her nose into Hobi's shoulder. "Wanna stay Unca Yoofie." she slurred.

Yoongi snorted. "Just take my bed, she'll kick up a  fuss if you leave now." his thumb passed her cheek, soft and unblemished just as she was. 

Hobi nodded hiking her up in one arm and clutching Yoongi's shoulder with the other. "She really loves you." he murmured, catching Yoongi's attention. The elder blinked up at him over her head. "I'm glad you found him, and that you didn't have to leave."

"For-For Hope's sake." Yoongi clarified, wringing his hands and shifting uncomfortably. 

"For both of us." Hobi promised. When  Yoongi couldn't lift his  gaze, he bowed gently and cradled his baby tight to his body. "Goodnight,  Hyungie ."

Yoongi seemed quite still even after the Jungs had slipped behind the divider, rocking on his heels, his mouth agape as if the words were knotting his tongue. He turned back to the body warm room, to his companions who murmured to and slumped against each other as the clouds covered the moon, as the first trickle of rain wept from the heavens, cleansing the streets of a Summer of sins. 

As  it pitter pattered like a tin drum and bounced from the sill and the windowpanes,  Yoongi met Jimin's  unyielding gaze, his cheeking warming under such an unadulterated beam of affection. 

No... It was love.

He was loved now.

Such a notion for a man like him, he thought to be impossible. After all he had done, after the many people he had hurt, he had resigned himself to a lonely and loveless life, supposing it to be his own fault.

Love, particularly a love as steady and as unconditional Park Jimin's, was at once overwhelming as it was addictive. Like starved  alcoholic ,  he'd take a sip of the finest wine and could hardly turn away.

Quickly, he slid into place, and ducked behind his piano. He let his fingers move. Like learning to swim or to ride a bike, he's was rusty, but by now it was muscle memory; as basic as breathing.

He played them 'River Flows in You', he played them 'Metamorphosis One', he played them 'Nocturne No.9'. He played them everything gentle. Lullabies- though he didn't realise it. Didn't look up from keys even when they were all lost to the world, Kookie falling first and Jimin clinging on until the bittersweet end. 

By the time he skipped a note, his fingers stiff and aching, six men and a baby were lost in their dreams. Soft snores and twitching toes.

Yoongi covered them each in all he could find, sheets, blankets and spare duvets. He covered Jimin in his hoodie, curled up beside him and let his eyes be filled with each beautiful curve and  shadow of his face. 

Despite the chilling breeze, he slept well and without anything to swaddle him, warmed from his skin to his bone by the waves of an  unexpected affection come within rather that without.

/

When he  woke, he woke revitalised, to Hope and Hobi's murmuring and with his fingers lace between Jimin's. 

He let his eyes pass the room, a new and sharpened  view of each of the men who lay before him. 

Jungkookie whom he'd first thought weak, actually uncommonly strong willed and moral for a teenager.  Namjoonie too, whom he'd been so indifferent, one of the most level and most intelligent men he'd ever met. Kim Taehyung, whom he'd convinced himself that he hated, one of the most loving, forgiving and  fiercely loyal people he'd ever known. 

Then there was Jimin.

Once a faceless irritation in the crowd. Now the most selfless, brave and angelic human being he's ever come across. 

Park Jimin had unknowingly saved his life. He had saved him in so many ways, and opened him up to joy. 

For once, it didn't matter that this would inevitably go down in flames. A month, a few days, even a few hours were enough. Yoongi was not so scared of his future now as he was of his past, and he was living quite a deal more in the present.

Because the present nowadays, was worth living for.

/

Their first day at work, Jimin woke early and cooked up a quick breakfast as his little butt wiggled to static radio Namjoon had gifted to them. Yoongi didn't even bother to smother his smirk as the younger turned to find him there and covered his burning cheeks with his hands.

Jimin helped around the store, returning to the flat to ply  Yoongi with materials as  Yoongi took his first lesson. A  ten-year-old boy who looked curiously like a little Min  Yoongi . He was shy to boot and would barely peek up at the elder under his mop of curls. His cheeks slid the scale from rose to scarlet with each fumbled note.

"I'm not good." he murmured, taking his fingers away from piano. 

"You're not confident. There's no passion." Yoongi grumbled. He sighed and sat back. "What do you wanna be when you grow up, Seungi-ah?"

The boy shrugged his little shoulders. "Mama wants me to-"

"I asked what you want. Not your mother." Yoongi turned his eyes down and watched the younger squirm and hesitate, the sun too bright against his eyes as it streamed in from the west windows. 

"I wanna draw. I wanna draw comic books."

Yoongi smiled, the slight slither of affection playing on his lips. "Mhm, so for that you'll need strong, nimble fingers, am I right? If your parents insist on piano lessons, do it for you. Use all the shit-" 

"Yoongi.." Jin warned, low tone and an armful of songbooks for him to use. 

"Use all the stuff your parent's make you do and that you hate to your advantage. Do it because it will help with smooth motion as you draw. If you're doing it for you, you'll find a way." 

Seungi's eyes widened, curiously, his fingers hovering above the keys. "Will it really help my drawings!"

Yoongi nodded. "And if you do well today, next time you should show me your comics. I'll read them and give them my best  review ."

Seungi bounced in his seat, his eyes were bright and focused when he spoke. "What do I have to do again sunbae-nim?"

"Here..." he chuckled, turning the page to the scales. "Let's start here. Start with C, find the C"

Jimin's hand was still atop his dish rag, and Jin watched him watch Yoongi. "You really are disgustingly in love with each other."

Jimin shook his head. "He doesn't love me."

"Who told you that?" Jin snorted. "Mr. I Don't Feel a Thing?"

Jimin blushed. "It doesn't... feel the same as the love I've felt before."

Jin shrugged lowering his stack of books to the ground. "He's not the person...or  the people who loved you before."

Jimin let himself hope, with Jin unaware of the double meaning. "Maybe..."

/

Yoongi was a firm but kind teacher, he neither pressured them or accepted their defeat. He was wonderfully  balanced around children. Jimin thought this must be the real him, the one of this  world .

He didn't even  lose patience with a particularly snooty little girl. "Rolling your eyes is incredibly rude and if you don't want to be here, I have many more children I can teach."

The complete shock of  realising that her attitude wouldn't fly, soon whipped her into shaped.

Yoongi wasn't lying either, after a few of his student's began to flourish and he, Jimin and their friends began collecting fans, Yoongi had lesson times coming out of his ears. By the end of the day his head hurt and his body would barely move.

He slumped to bed after his evening cigarette without a word and Jimin curled on his sofa, watched him go over his book. He smiled when Yoongi caught his gaze and waved sleepily before he ducked behind the partition.

The even snores came soon after, buffed out by the decline in his cigarette use. He was down to six a day now...too busy to smoke more than that.

Jimin smiled and let the sound lull him, brought under by  its rise and fall.

/

Crash.

Jimin was jolted into a conscious state as something tin like hit the floor. He blinked himself into focus, eyes struggling to adjust to the dark. A figure waddled toward him from the partition, pale skin all laced with ink. Jimin's breath caught in his throat.

"Y-yoongi?" he rasped. 

He didn't have time for more words, because  Yoongi was grumbling, eyes still shut and pulling back his blankets. The elder slipped beneath, his arm circling Jimin's waist and his head nuzzled into the place his shoulder met his neck. He slumped against him, murmured something  incoherent and went back to his little snores.

He stayed, wrapped around Jimin like it had always been so.

And Jimin, astonished let his fingers comb Yoongi's hair, fingers that trailed down the back of his neck and brought goose bumps to the surface. Yoongi groaned and turned his face into his neck.

Jimin couldn't help it... he smiled. He buried his nose in Yoongi's hair and let his body warm him until he fell once more into a tepid lake of midnight blue.

/

Yoongi could feel him before he saw him, the solid warmth and the little palms curled up in the soft down locks at the base of his neck.  Yoongi's eyes fluttered open and he leant up on his elbows, blinking down at a heavy lidded Jimin,  befuddled . 

Their  positions betrayed the person who had initiated this and all  Yoongi could do was wonder how and when.

Jimin answered before he could open his mouth. "You wandered here in the middle of the night. I-ah, I would have moved but you..." he trailed off. "I would- I would have woke you too, but you were so tired, I didn't want to disturb you when-when you were sleeping so well."

Yoongi looked down upon him expressionless and then, silent as the night pushed himself up and grabbed his cig packet from the table.

As if nothing had happened. 

The only thing that betrayed him was the thoughtful furrow of his brow.

/

This happened more than once. Yoongi would always return to his room only to wake in Jimin's arms.

The second time he woke in the middle of the night, when the phone Tae had gifted to Jimin clattered to the floor. Frustrated and confused he took to the balcony and refused to sleep.

Unfortunately, this didn't work out so well, the next day his temper was short and he upset a child or two, softening like butter to get them back on-side. And when he stumbled to the younger in his sleep three nights later, this time Jimin left room.

When Yoongi woke at dawn in the crook of his neck, he huffed a breath and stayed put.

/

The fourth time it happened was the very next evening, and Yoongi only stirred when Jimin wriggled and shifted beneath him. The piano-player groaned and clung to him, shivering under the morning chill as the body that warmed him pulled away.

"Yoongi..."

"Staystill..." he grumbled.

"I need to pee."

"Uh-uh."

"But-I..."

He was cut off by the press of Yoongi's lips to his own. It was effective, he was silenced instantly. "Mm, staystill." Yoongi murmured, rubbing his itchy nose against Jimin's collar bone.

"Ahhh, ah, Yoongi...gross."

Yoongi hummed and pressed his cheek to Jimin's chest. "Shhh."

Jimin for once, did as he was told, grinning up at the ceiling like a dope. He would give in to him a hundred times more if this was what he would receive in return.

/

The kisses came sporadically too, each time to hush Jimin or to sate him. There was really little explanation why and Jimin didn't ask for it. 

One such time occurred as Jimin whined and complained that  Yoongi was stuck inside too often. And as he begged the elder that weekend to come with he and Tae on a little outing,  Yoongi groaned, exhausted and pulled him into a kiss. It was a quick peck, but it left them both speechless for a  good few seconds .

Yoongi took his hands from his hips and Jimin brushed his lips with his  fingertips , lingering on the phantom kiss.

Yoongi cleared his throat. "Uh...will Joonie be there?"

"I can ask him." Jimin murmured. "Will you come if he is?"

Yoongi nodded.

"Then I'll ask him."

For the first time, days later, his kiss took only Jimin by surprise. It was the ass-crack of dawn and Jimin had woken early for his morning run. He was already showered and  towelling himself dry when  Yoongi waddled, bleary eyed and half-naked into the bathroom without any warning.

He blinked as Jimin yelped and covered himself hastily with his towel. It only barely covered his lower half, but the younger flushed from the tips of his ears to his chest. His skin smooth, creamy and tempting. 

He bowed to  Yoongi awkwardly and rushed to pass him, but the elder caught his waist, smirking as he backed him up against the wall by the door. Jimin's breath caught in his throat. The elder cupped his chin and gathered his lips between his. A few seconds was all they shared but when the pianist pulled back, Jimin stilled chased his lips senselessly.

"You ain't gotta hide that shit from me." he murmured, his thumb pressing down against his plush bottom lip. "You're real fucking pretty." 

He pulled away and slunk into the bathroom, deserting a dizzy Jimin as he pulled the door to behind him. 

/

The day something changed they were both a little drunk, a sober Jungkook and semi-sober Namjoon dropping them mercifully at the front door. The giggled and fell up the winding steps together, jabbing the key just short of the lock thrice before finally opening the door.

Together they collapsed onto the sofa; merry, fatigued and observing the ceiling from either arm.  They were soundless for a while, Jimin pulling and kicking his many layers from his body until he was simply left in his underwear and t-shirt. 

It was still Winter where he was from.

"Can the other's see it, you think?"

"Huh?"

Yoongi leaned up on his elbows. "Can they see it when it rains and it snows on you?"

Jimin smiled and shook his head. "They didn't know me in this world or that one. Only Taehyung can see it too. He told me so."

"Yeah..." another few moments passed. "Was it like this where you were from?"

"Like what?"

Yoongi hummed trying to collect his thoughts with his brain dragging it's feet. "Like this... like how this feels."

"How does it feel?" Jimin murmured.

"I. ..I don't know. Like I'm falling and I don't  wanna land. And it's scary...but  exhilarating . Like driving real fast on a long road..."

Jimin turned to the side and reached across to the apple crate coffee table, retrieving his old phone. He couldn't call out from it here, seeing as Jimin technically didn't exist and so neither did his phone or his contract... but it still worked as a computer. 

"Here, look...I'll show you." he mumbled, brow furrowed as he tapped on the screen and scrolled back.

Yoongi heaved himself upright and took the phone when Jimin offered it to him, right arm pressed to Jimin's left. "Is this..."

"Yeah...scroll back."

On the screen...was him. Only...it  wasn't him. He was fuller in the face. His hair coloured mint where Jimin's was orange and his body severely lacking on the tattoo front. He was curled up in Jimin's arms much like he had been for the past few weeks. In their bed. The bed that they shared. Jimin's lips press devotedly to his forehead.

As he scrolled back there was more. Their life together. Their cosy, white/cream plant filled apartment. Through the many hair colours, too.

"That one suits you..." Yoongi mumbled as a pink haired Jimin stared back at him from the shore line. 

"You said that back then too."

"Who are they?"

"Ah...Chanyeol and Baekhyun. They were our two best friends...they must be-"

Yoongi lifted his eyes and Jimin's voice trembled. "What?"

Jimin's eyes, wet and glassy, shut in slow motion. "They must be terrified right now...not knowing what happened to me."

With his head spinning, Yoongi didn't know why he kissed Jimin then. But he put down that phone and he kissed him regardless, once, twice...and for the first time Jimin took his lips too. He tilted his head and deepened the kiss, his body trembling.

He pulled a with a soft smack and pressed their foreheads together. "I-I'm sorry I just..." he turned his head.

Yoongi shook his head. "I didn't push you away. You aint gotta be sorry for it." The elder rose up to his feet a hand on Jimin's shoulder. "We should get some rest or something."

Jimin didn't answer.

So Yoongi left, hand brushing the younger's shoulder as he passed him. He shuffled toward his bed, stopping only as he clutched the screen. "Jimin-ah?" Yoongi turned back to him with a thoughtfully furrowed brow. And Jimin met his eye, expressionless. "I keep coming to you in the night."

"You do."

"Maybe...Maybe it's because I'm cold? The window in my room is drafty?"

"Maybe."

"Come to bed with me."

Jimin blinked. "Yoongi..."

"Not like that. Just to see. If it's the sofa I want or you."

Jimin considered him silently, but followed him just moments later.

They curled up together, back to back under the duvet. But just before he fell, Yoongi turned to younger and he fell asleep watching the rise and fall of his chest.

/

When he woke with Jimin in his arms he wasn't really  surprised . He now had his answer.

He watched him like he always seemed to, in the privacy of his own company, but with a new tenderness threaded through his expression. Only this time Jimin opened his eyes and he was caught in the act.

Yoongi flinched as they blinked on at each other, with matching headaches and dark circles. Shy at his suddenly exposition, Yoongi ducked his pink cheeks and pulled away for his morning cig, leaving Jimin to stretch out next to a warm but empty space. 

He pushed the jammed window up with three sharp shoves, cigarette poised between his lips and only lit it when he was perched on the frame, one foot on the fire escape.

Jimin was reminded once more how different this felt. Yoongi didn't wake him with a kiss as he once did, but instead he woke to a wonder filled gaze, timidness and a billow of smoke. 

It wasn't what he was used to, but it was just as precious as any good morning kiss. 

After that morning it seemed pointless to sleep apart, like lost boys at sea, they would  always wash up upon the same shore in the end.

/

They lived a hidden but happy life with a rapidly forming routine. The younger danced, socialised and booked an  appointment to dye his hair candyfloss pink.  Yoongi would miss his ebony locks, but he couldn't deny how pretty he would look after. And though Jimin seemed happy, it was a distant sort of happiness, one that made  Yoongi feel he wasn't quite enough.

That underlying tension simmered, but Yoongi was desperate to cling to this new found steadiness. He made a little more effort to smile and Jimin seemed to respond to it. But he would rise and troth, and it would leave Yoongi in an echo. Always unsure.

On one of his more  possitive days Jimin dug through  Yoongi's dresser for a spare pair of underwear, his own all drying on the line. He discovered to his  surprise , a small box in bottom draw.

He pulled out the set off lacy panties and a periwinkle, baby doll chamise... bemused. He took it to  Yoongi , whom was  practicing something pretty on the piano. "I never took you for the panty wearing type?" he murmured, holding the lingerie up to his chest. 

The flow of melody was cut to a sharp stop, Yoongi turned his eyes over his shoulder. "Where did you get them?"

"I found them in your dresser." he chuckled. "I really would've thought you'd go for black."

Suddenly they were snatched from his grip and the walls had slammed down behind Yoongi's eyes. "Yeah well, you hardly fucking know me." 

For the first time in weeks, Jimin felt the breath knocked from his lungs, he stumbled back and Yoongi swallowed the lump of guilt in his throat. 

He caught his breath and stuttered out an explanation. "I-I'm not laughing at you. If you're into that it's fine... it's-"

"They're not mine."

"But then who..."

"I told you. I left a trail of broken hearts. Some of them were too hung over to dress themselves properly." he mumbled. 

" So, you kept them? Like...trophies?"

"And why would I need to do that."

Jimin shook his head. " No, you're right...sorry..."

Yoongi sagged and sighed. "Don't worry, I washed them. I'm not some sort of pervert that-"

"Why?"

Yoongi blinked up at the younger. "What?"

His brows knitted and his lips pushed out into a pensive pout, Jimin repeated himself. "Why? Why would you wash them? Keep them? Why wouldn't you just...throw them out or something?" Yoongi shook his head, his heart racing and he stared fixedly at the wall. And then it clicked and Jimin's heart broke. "Oh...you were hoping they'd come back."

"I've forgot they were even..."

" No, it's... don't explain. It just makes me sad...that you felt so desperate to have-"

"If you're done  phsyco -analysing me,"  Yoongi snapped, tossing the  lingerie over the back of the sofa. "I have to finish this phase."

He turned away from him and back to his piano, burying himself into a long stream of bars and melody. 

Jimin watched him a while, before  retrieving the panties and chemise. He left  Yoongi alone with his thoughts, too scared to ruffle him further.

/

Jimin had been too subdued for too long and had not left the bedroom since their earlier tiff. There was a strange  atmosphere in that apartment, spine tingling and shiver inducing and  Yoongi couldn't focus anymore on the music.

He slid out from behind the piano and eyed the partition wearily.

He was up to  something; he could feel it. 

Yoongi crept along the screen and peered around the side, cringing when the ball of his foot pressed down on floorboard. It creaked, and Jimin turned to him before Yoongi could hide.

For once, he took Yoongi's breath. 

He knelt on the bed that they shared, the lamplight colouring his skin, the string lights sparkling like stars in his eyes. His still dark locks were parted to the side, his lips glistened in the low light and he wore the periwinkle chemise, the delicate material skimming his stocking clad upper thigh.

Yoongi moved forward, floating like a spectre from the  shadows into a pool of light, a good meter and a half from where Jimin stayed.

"What're you doing?"

Jimin blinked up at him, unsure and played with the hem of the fabric nervously. "Uh...I just...."

"Jimin..."

"I'm sorry..." he murmured, Yoongi's heart aching as he covered his body with his arms. "I probably look so silly like this..."

"Just stop. You're fucking beautiful."  Yoongi sighed, taking Jimin by  surprise . "You look hot...really hot. I just... fuck I  dunno what you..."

"You don't know what?" Jimin  whispered, shifting closer across the mattress.

"Jimin-ah... I'm not a safe bet. Please fucking remember that. I'm damaged, I'm moody, I don't know shit about romance. I just don't think I can be who you  want me to be." 

The honesty left Jimin reeling. "Who exactly do you suppose that to be?"

"I dunno, just... the me that you loved before?"

Jimin nodded and uncrossed his arms, let them rest, limp at his side. "The you that I knew is dead,"  Yoongi's eyes flew up, the  statement so raw and uncensored in its emotion. Jimin swallowed. "I cried so many times as I realised that. That he isn't going to come back, that I'm not  gonna wake up and find that this has all been a dream. But it's true... that he's gone, for the most part anyway."

"Jimin-ah..." 

" I  don't expect anything of you. I don't expect you to be a person that only exists in my memory. I was in love with him, I came here for  _ him _ , but I'm still here because of  _ you _ . You aren't at all alike on the surface, but there are parts of you...the deepest and most beautiful parts that still remain. I can see it. And as long as that's still there I can't help but be in love with you."

"Jimin I- I'm..."

"You don't have to love me too. I'm not putting that on you. I just want to make you feel good tonight. That's all I wanted, to make you feel good. To make you feel good and stay by your side..."

Yoongi gulped down the lump in his throat. "I know."

"Then let me." his eyes darkened, the most  ethereal and sultry pair of amber eyes. "Let me make it good for you."

"Fuck, Jimin, I'm gonna hurt you... I could kill you. I almost did."

Jimin shook his head, unmoving. "Nothing will ever hurt like  losing you."

Their eyes met and it was saturated with his sincerity. Jimin crawled toward the pillows and sprawled himself out on his side, his back arched and the chamise hiked up off his hips to expose the pale lace stretched over his gorgeous, round ass. "Come to bed." he pouted. Yoongi stayed still, frozen by the wave of a longing lust. "Come on, come to bed."

But with Yoongi all smoulder and no movement, Jimin rolled back toward him, kneeling up and taking the elder's hands in his own. He tugged him down onto the mattress and up to the head of the bed, he placed each of the elder's hands on his thighs with a shudder.

With Yoongi's eyes lidded and passing from his hands to the flush of Jimin's cheeks, the younger guided those quivering palms from his thighs up. Under the silky little dress to his bare waist. "You can touch me." he promised. "Mmm. Feels nice."

The bridge of Yoongi's nose nudged the tip of Jimin's and he balled the pale silk in his fists. "Take it off." he whispered. "Wanna see you."

Jimin's lashes fluttered as he pulled the thin material over his head and as he did  Yoongi attempted to rid himself of his hoodie too, getting  himself, all tangled up inside. He arms flopped and he huffed in defeat.

Jimin  hiccupped a giggle, and helped him rid himself of the offending article. As he tossed it to the shadows, his hands found his chest, finger tips tracing the lines of each tattoo and peck left on his lips.

The tension was broken, and it was better that way. Sheepish, Yoongi kept his eyes fixed on where hands were, smoothing Jimin's pelvic bones with his thumbs.

"We should really get you a bed frame, your body must ache from always sleeping on the ground like this." 

_ What was he talking about _ ,  Yoongi wondered,  _ why _ _ does it put me at ease? _

As Jimin fell back into the pillows, Yoongi’s thumbs pushed their way under the lace of the panties, Jimin's cock half hard and straining against the fabric. As Jimin expelled the breathiest moan,  Yoongi tugged them down, peeling the down to his thighs and past his ankles. The panties joined his hoodie on the ground.

Yoongi thought he's seen Jimin naked that morning in bathroom. But he'd never seen Park Jimin truly naked, not as he was now.  Sprawled out so bare, his arms above his head in surrender, his eyes unashamed and burning with emotion.

Fuck, he was so brave.

He refused to look away.

Yoongi rewarded him, his jaw dropping and he sunk down onto his cock. " Uhh ..." Jimin's hip jolted, but  Yoongi did not pull back. His head bobbed in steady  rhythm as Jimin's fingers threaded through his hair. As the younger squirmed,  Yoongi's tongue worked the shaft, hands rolling his balls as his tongue swept the tip.

"Ahhhh fuck... baby your tongue... god, fuck, I missed this tongue."

Hand still grasping Jimin's cock, Yoongi growled and greedily sucked each ball leaving the younger trembling. "You gotta filthy mouth when you're like this, huh?"

Jimin gulped a breath, propped himself on his elbows and gazed down at in him under lidded eyes. Their eyes met as  Yoongi pushed his legs up and spread them. He trailed his lips from his  perineum to his fluttering hole and Jimin's amber eyes rolled back into his head.

When tongue touched skin he was done for, collapsing into the pillows and Yoongi went at it with wild abandon. The younger gasped like a fish out of water, arched, trembling beneath him as Yoongi opened him up. 

Soon it was so overwhelming that Jimin pulled him up by the hands on his stocking covered thighs and rolled until Yoongi was on his back beneath him.

They panted together, their chests falling and rising and their lips wet. For a second Jimin just watched him, wrecked. His slender fingers tracing all the lines and contours of his face in reverence. 

Yoongi didn't know why he looked at him so, but he couldn't long question it before his lips were taken in a kiss. A slow, tender, soul deep kiss.

It penetrated him. 

And those beautiful rose petal lips brushed more upon his skin, across his lust warm cheek, down his jaw and his neck. He kissed him where his heart lay, dipped down to his stomach where he paused. 

Yoongi blinked down at him, starstruck. "I wonder." the younger whispered, nuzzling into his hip bone. 

"W-wonder- shit!" Yoongi growled, convulsing as Jimin flattered his tongue as licked a strip from his hip to his rib cage. The younger blew a cool stream of air against the dampness and Yoongi's toes curled.

"Guess I was right." Jimin teased. "It still makes your toes curl."

With his cock throbbing in his underwear and his toes unfurling, Jimin went back to showering him with his kiss.

He took his time, painting his lips  across every square inch.  Yoongi squirmed, impatiently. He wanted more... he needed him. 

The elder rolled them, but only seconds later he was back where was and Jimin soothed his antsy fingers with a kiss to each. "No... this is for you." Baffled  Yoongi blinked up under his bangs, Jimin lulled him with a  peck to his lips. "Breathe. I'm not going anywhere; I won't leave you." 

Tears burned and stung the corners of  Yoongi's eyes, and thankfully Jimin  didn't make him wait long. Distracted by his lips and the rub of Jimin's cock against his, he barely noticed the click of the lube bottle or Jimin pushing his fingers in and out of his tight hole. He was brought from his reverie however, when the tip of his cock brushed the hot, slippery pucker, Jimin with his back to him as he was pulled into beautiful, tight heat.

"Jimin..." he choked, and Jimin cried out, mouth agape and his head thrown back.

"Yes..." Jimin breathed, in what sounded like  relief . "Yes... Yes..."

The younger leant forward, bracing himself with spread  plams on the mattress, his back arched and his hips rolling.  Yoongi throbbed as he watched Jimin cling to his cock, watched him pull and drag. 

But  somehow, he seemed so far away, and the  occasional slap of Jimin's cheeks against his navel was delicious but not near enough.

Yoongi pulled him back by his waist, back up, back against his chest and into his arms. For silent  second, he just kept him there, his lips pressed to the back of his neck.

As Jimin melted in his embrace, his fingers found  Yoongi's jaw. He pulled him up to look him in the eyes. What they shared in that moment need no words. Wounded souls healing and words that needed no witness.

Jimin's lips caught Yoongi's, and his hips regained their motion. They were finally met in the middle, tethered to each other from the inside out...

A shiver wracked Yoongi's body at the thought. What this was so much more than sex. What this was... Yoongi could not even fathom.

With each thrust into Jimin's prostate, the elder lost a little more of his  conscious mind, and in the end, the younger's body crumbled as  Yoongi did. Into a trembling mess of hoarse moans and incoherent murmurs.

It was only then that Yoongi put him on his back, and he fucked into Jimin with the younger clinging to him like an anchor, pressing crescents into his skin with his nails.

The pressure built and it came to a  crescendo . They came seconds apart.

They came apart.

With wailing cries and stuttering hips.

Yoongi could barely pull himself together after, quivering in Jimin's arms as the dancer carded his hair and painted a kiss against his sweaty temple.

"Did so well, made me feel so good Yoongi..." he whispered. "So good..."

/

The basked in the glow side by side, too lazy to roll out of bed for a shower. With Jimin nuzzled against his arm, Yoongi spoke first. "Fuck... was it always like that?" 

Jimin hummed nuzzling into his skin. "I think it feels  kinda different for me."

"Oh...sorry." 

"Ah,  nonono ! Not like that." he leant up a little and pressed his lips to  Yoongis fingers. "I promise, it was so nice. It felt so good... better than good. It's just different, not better, not worse. Like, you're a little unsure now when you touch me, you're unsure when I touch you, it not that either of us  aren't enjoying it, it's just different. It's actually  kinda sweet, to see you this shy when it comes to sex. You're the exact inverse of the you that I knew."

" Yeah... How?"  Yoongi mumbled. 

Jimin mulled it over before he answered. "Back then you were quite shy in public, but very intense in bed, you'd leave me with my head spinning and my body bowing. Now though... you're intense on the outside and soft when we're alone. It's different, it is. But  instead of thrusting me into a tailspin...I just feel at peace. Like the feeling you get when you finally climb into bed after a long day and good meal." he explained. "Before I wanted more. Now I know I've had more than I could ever deserve."

/

Inhaling the nicotine,  Yoongi exhaled a breath. He sat cross legged on the fire escape, with the metal cold on his ass and Jimin's feet just visible from where he was perched.

He frowned and turned away, looked out across the morning skyline, the bustle of the morning market and blare of horns breaking the silence.

He didn't know why he felt so much shame for this. Last night had been something he'd remember on his death bed as one of the key moments that changed him forever. His time with Jimin had been so full of those moments.

His shame lay squarely in fact that he still didn't know what it was he felt, or if doing this was the right thing for both of them.

It felt selfish to be so wanted when he didn't know what he wanted in return.

Still when Jimin stirred and called his name,  Yoongi went to him,  too weak to fight the urge.

/

Jimin could feel him pull away. It  wasn't that he was confrontational, he didn't scream or cuss him out. He just didn't say anything.

And while he was attentive, he was silent. His lips were sealed shut.

He stopped kissing him, turned away from him as they slept. Jimin wondered what had happened to inspire this change.

Found himself wondering if he'd be another member of his broken hearts club by the end of the month.

Until a glimmer of hope, as they helped Seokjin rearrange the store one frosty night.

As the leaves bled from gold to crimson, as night drew in, they mopped floors, stacked shelves and brought in the violins, the guitars and drums. 

They chattered among themselves.

"I honestly think a cafe area would be the right way to go." Namjoon murmured, the one who had been firmly instructed to mop away from the stock.

Jin slumped and his hung bows on the rack. "Ah, but with Gnammy Italia next door... besides... I don't have the money for such and expansion. And I refuse to ask my parents."

"How about a youth club? Teach kids of all ages and backgrounds to play?" Jimin suggested. Yoongi couldn't help but smile.

Jin's eyes lit up. "That might actually be an idea if we can get the numbers in. Jungkookie, do you think kids would join?"

Kookie scratched his head a little shy. "Um..."

"What?" Jin groaned.

"Well, no offence Hyungs, your music is really pretty and great for parents and stuff but like...maybe we could add some modern stuff to the programme too?"

Tae perked up then. "Yes! We could all do it! I can sing, Kookie could too!"

Kookie's cheeks burned. "Uh-Um, I dunno if-"

"Yah! C'mon, we heard your voice at the  Karaoke ! We'll practice now! See what you think Hyung?  Yoongi-hyung !"  Yoongi's eyes floated over, lazily. "Play for us."

"Aish..."

"Pleaseee!"

"I'm tired! My head is throbbing. Leave me alone."

"Fine!" he whined. "Seokjinnie...hmm, do you have the Sam Smith Song Book? How about 'Lay Me Down'? It's pretty simple!"

Jin rolled his eyes. "Fine. But only because I'd do abso-fucking-loutley anything to not be stood right now."

The eldest  retrieved the song book and set it on the baby grand, sliding onto the leather seat as Jimin perched himself next to Namjoon on white Yamaha.  Yoongi remained where he was on the window sill.

Tae for his part dragged their maknae up next to him and as Jin's fingers weaved the first bars. He stared at Kookie, as pointed as Yoongi was demure.

So Kookie sang, his voice clear as a bell.

**_ " _ ** **_ Yes _ ** **_ I do, I believe _ **

**_ That one day I will be, where I was _ **

**_ Right there, right next to you" _ **

The words coaxed him, and Yoongi's eyes found Jimin across the room.

**_ "And it's hard, the days just seem so dark _ **

**_ The moon, and the stars, are nothing without you."  _ **

He watched  it; the clouds of a familiar pain darken those pretty eyes. Tae sang next, a deep, soulful drawl.

**_ "Your touch, your skin, where do I begin? _ **

**_ No words can explain, the way  _ ** **_ I'm _ ** **_ missing you."  _ **

With the room focused on the boys, nobody but Yoongi saw the tears gathering in amber eyes. 

**_ "Deny this emptiness, this hole that  _ ** **_ I'm _ ** **_ inside _ **

**_ These tears, they tell their own story." _ **

A thousand words...sleepless nights woken by nightmares, the ache and the pain of a loss of something that seemed part of him. Each agonising pang and caught breath  were there in his eyes. Together the boy's voices swelled together.

**_ " You told me not to cry when you were gone _ **

**_ But the feeling's overwhelming, it's much too strong." _ **

Yoongi's fingers twitched, and Jimin's hand balled against his heaving chest as his eyes fluttered shut.

**_ "Can I lay by your side, next to you, you _ **

**_ And make sure you're alright _ **

**_ I'll take care of you, _ **

**_ And I don't want to be here if I can't be with you tonight." _ **

Jimin's eyes opened and the first tear fell, shimmering like crystal on his cheek. Yoongi's heart broke, and Tae took to the next verse alone. 

**_ "I'm reaching out to you _ **

**_ Can you hear my call?" _ **

_ I'm here, _ Yoongi pled from  within his mind, his eyes pinched and pained.  _ Don't cry, fuck _ . 

Kookie led on:

**_ " This hurt that I've been through _ **

**_ I'm missing you, missing you like crazy..." _ **

Jimin's eyes opened and he met Yoongi's eyes across the piano, breathless as the younger two came together once more.

**_ "Can I lay by your side, next to you, to you _ **

**_ And make sure you're alright _ **

**_ I'll take care of you, _ **

**_ And I don't want to be here if I can't be with you tonight!" _ **

Jin dropped the melody as if it were the beat of a fluttering heart. And Jimin dropped his gaze too, as Tae came back in.

**_ "Lay me down tonight," _ **

Kookie answered, Jimin stood.

**_ "Lay me by your side..." _ **

He traversed the edge of the room, assuring Namjoon he was fine, Tae frowning as he sang out from the piano side.

**_ "Lay me down tonight." _ **

Kookie cried out the penultimate line as Jimin made his dash for the door.

**_ "Lay me by your side!" _ **

But Yoongi caught his waist before he could escape, pulling him in tight, lips inches apart as the maknaes belted it out together.

**_ "Can I lay by your side!" _ **

Jimin's lashes fluttered, as Yoongi held up a palm, he met it... and Tae whispered the next phrase.

**_ "Next to you." _ **

The youngest two met on final word, and Yoongi’s fingers were thread between Jimin's.

**_ "You." _ **

What followed the climax of the song, was pregnant pause and a  visceral tension. Their foreheads pressed, Jimin's lips ghosting his, sharing one single breath between them. That was...until Namjoon twitched and clashed with the symbols on the drums. 

And Yoongi was rattled from his daydream.

He pulled away, leaving the amber-eyed angel reeling. And before he had opened his eyes, the bell had chimed and  Yoongi was gone. If it  wasn't for Seokjin's hand on his arm, pulling  his trembling body into an embrace, Jimin thought he might have finally woken from a dream.

With the old Yoongi still breathing beside him.

/

Yoongi stared listlessly at Hobi's front door after he knocked, his heart pounding his chest like a stray shoe in a tumble dryer.

Finally, Hobi opened up, his hair pushed back from his forehead and the lamplight warm and womb like behind him. "Yoongi?"

The elder lifted his head, eyes brimming with tears, "C-Can I ask you something?"

"Of course!" Hobi breathed. "Hey, of course."

Yoongi sniffled, and hung his head. "When did you know that you were in love?"

"Ah." Hobi's lip curved up in a sleepy sort of smile, and he stood back  as he wafted him inside. "Come on. Take a seat."


	7. We Built Castles of Sand With What Remained.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Eunwoo gives Yoongi cause for concern and the boys teach him about love while Jimin pulls him in closer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick AN! I dunno when the next chapter will be up! I have a lot of Birthday one shots to fill over August for my friend @Pinkjinpls but hopefully I can wack another chapter out next week!  
> Please bare with me! It's all planned it just needs writing out! <3

Jimin returned to their  apartment on the breeze, his face set and determined not to let those  burgeoning tears fall. He found Yoongi on the sofa that they once shared as a bed, his expression fathomless, flowing from one emotion to the next as he blinked out upon the distant skyline.

As he turned to Jimin, at the click of the door, something more tangible settled across his features. It could be called concern.

He stood to greet him, but Jimin spoke before he could get a word in. "I'm sorry." Yoongi cocked his head, baffled. "For crying." he clarified

Yoongi scowled, "Why the fuck would you apologise for that?"

Jimin shrugged, carding his own locks and pulling them back from his eyes. "It made you feel bad. That isn't fair."

After the  briefest moment of reflection, the elder swept forward, cupping Jimin's cheeks as he kissed him. It wasn't the most remarkable of kisses, and it tasted of coffee, tears and cigarettes, but it meant something. Something more than what it seemed. "Give me time." Yoongi whispered, smudging the tears that escaped with his thumbs. "I'm still  tryna wrap my head around all of this. Around you. You got me believing in time travel, witchcraft and love. Which... stupidly, is the thing that fucked with head the most. I just... I feel  somethin ', I feel something for you. You just  gotta let me figure out what it is. I don't want to give you all this hope just to let you down and see you broken because I only thought I was sure." 

"I love you."

"I know." he sighed, pulling him into his arms, Hobi's words still ringing in his ears. "I know you do. I don't know why, but I'm lucky, huh?"

" Of course you are." Jimin mumbled into his shoulder. "I'm a pleasure to be around."

"Big headed little..."

"You can't be mean to me, I'm sad." he chuckled, wetly.

Yoongi snorted. "Fine." he murmured, caressing the dips at the base of his spine.

"You can't be mean to my anymore anyway."

Yoongi nodded. "To tell you the truth," he admitted. "I could barely stomach it to start with."

/

Namjoon's brows shot up almost into his hair line that morning at Gnammy Italia. "Are... are you asking me how I fell for Taehyung or about love in general?"

Yoongi shovelled the pasta into his mouth and rolled his eyes across the bar. "I'd rather you left out all the horny details, seeing as he's my fucking cousin. Just... love in general." he pushed the spaghetti around the plate as Namjoon nibbled on his  granola bar. 

"Hmm..." he shifted in his stool. "It comes on quite gradually for me. Normally my mind is so distracted by countless other things, that I never tend to notice it straight away. But one thing that always helps it hit home, is that you'd do anything to see them smile. And I mean  anything. Things you never thought you'd even dream of doing. It seems easy to do these things, because the feeling you get when you see them content is worth it.  Kinda like me going behind your back for  Taehyungie when you were much scarier than you are now."

"I thought you did that for me?" he guffawed.

Namjoon held up his hands in surrender. "Hey, technically I'd say I did it for both of you. It worked out well though, right?" 

Yoongi mulled his words as he ate and Namjoon eyed him  suspiciously . "Right..."

"Why do you ask all of a sudden?"

"Nothing... no reason."

/

Yoongi left Namjoon to his devices when  Chaerin yelled him back to work. And leaving the  restaurant as customer through the front door gave him a certain sense of catharsis. Like he's regained some control in a life that had previously sent him into a tailspin.

But his peace never did last long enough.

As he took a drag from his second cig of the day, the smoke cleared and between the  bustling civilians he thought he saw an amber-eyed angel. He stopped in his tracks and smiled from afar, the younger's head was cocked and his brows furrowed as he chattered on to a mystery figure hidden behind a stall.

But as the taller man shifted a side profile came into  view , elegant lines and a small face. 

"Eunwoo?" he breathed.

Two women passed his line of vision suddenly, and he blinked rapidly as the ramen vendor lifted the lid from his pot, casting a hot blast of steam across the image. Once the women had moved on and the steam had dissolved into the cool air, it was clear that his lovers (both past and present) were gone. 

And he was dizzy from the shock.

/

Yoongi watched Jimin eat, the younger content and warm in Yoongi's knee length sweater, shifting to pull his knees to his chest. 

"Where did you go for lunch today?" Yoongi asked, spearing his veggies and attempting to keep his tone neutral.

"Ahh, I had lunch with Seokjinnie-Hyung." he told him, body swaying to the music as he flicked through his phone. "At the shop. We ordered in."

Yoongi nodded, swallowing his bite. "You didn't see anyone on your way out or in?"

Jimin cocked his, head, much like Yoongi thought he saw him do earlier. "No. .. should I have seen someone?"

Yoongi's brow furrowed. "Not particularly, I suppose." Maybe it wasn't them?

Jimin's eyes softened as the elder sagged. "You're talking in riddles baby." he hummed. "You tired?"

Yoongi nodded. "I think I am." came his gruff response as he rubbed his nose with his sleeve, hair floofy from the shower.

Jimin smiled and crawled around the crate to his side grabbing Yoongi's phone from beside his bowl and punching in his birthdate passcode. "What you doing?" Yoongi grumbled as Jimin held the camera up high and cuddled in close.

The younger turned to him, smiling sweetly.

"You look so cute right now. Besides, I was thinking how I have so many photos of us together old and new, but you don't have any at all."

"Hm."

"Stop pouting," he teased. "At least look like you wanna be next to me." 

Yoongi snorted and wrapped his arm around Jimin's waist. They took three shots, matching smiles, Yoongi nuzzled into his shoulder and Jimin pressing a kiss to his temple. Then on the fourth, Jimin drew his face up and so sweet Yoongi could cry, he asked him: "Can I kiss you?"

Yoongi nodded. "You don't have to ask anymore, it's not like  there's crowd of assholes to see it. " The younger's eyes lit up.

Jimin brought their lips together, still cradling Yoongi's jaw as he snapped the last pic. But as Jimin turned his head, a unprecedented and irrational panic swept over Yoongi. He chased Jimin's lips until the younger met his own. 

They stayed like that for a while, small, soft kisses pressed against each other's lips until Jimin pulled away, breathless. "Ah...What's all this for." he laughed. 

But Yoongi shook his head. "Nothing...come to bed?"

By now Jimin knew what those words meant. His eyes sparkled from the lust driven glee. "Okay..."

/

Jin hummed, head twitching to the side  thoughtfully at the oddness of Yoongi's question. "I think I've only ever been in love twice. Once with my girlfriend from Australia. That was puppy love. But what I have with Hobi... it's real adult love. It's a similar feeling though."

"How could you tell though? That you we're falling in love with him. That it wasn't just that surface level shit."

Jin rested his elbows atop the payment counter, his chin cradled in his palms. "Ahhh cute!" 

"Aish!" he rolled his eyes. But Jin chuckled and shrugged.

"I don't know how I knew. I guess, because selfishly and ignorantly, I thought I'd never fall for a man who had a child in tow. I thought that type of commitment would put me off, not matter how handsome they were."

" So, what changed your mind?"

"He did." Jin mumbled playing a couple of gently notes on a major scale. "Or, they did. They changed me."

"Why?"

"Some people are special." Jin shrugged.

"Yeah, but I don't...I don't get why? What makes them... your person?"

"Ah, I don't know either!" Seokjin complained. " I looked at  Hoseokie first as an  individual , he was selfless, hardworking, kind, generous. A light in all that dark. But then seeing him with Hope only amplified all of those things. And then through them I started to look at myself and because of them, I wanted to be better. I think that's the thing, when you really love someone you  wanna iron out all your dark parts so you don't become the cloud in front of the sun."

"So that how you knew?" Yoongi nodded. "Okay..." 

But Jin was ever coy, he smirked up at him. "Why do you ask all of a sudden, hmmmmm?"

" Oh, look at that, it's extremely late..."

As Yoongi got to his feet Jin whined a noise of protest. "Yah! It's just barely past 8pm! Yah, Min Yoongi!?"

"Okay, byeeeee!"

/

Yoongi snorted as Jin's mochi hit the closed door. It was nice that their initial weariness of each other had quickly worn off. For that, he probably had Hobi to thank, if not Hope herself.

The echo of a laugh turned his eyes down the alley ways, as he  travelled down market street through the stalls at twilight.

He turned and he squinted, making out two heads of ebony locks, one tilted up toward the other with an all too familiar smile pushing eyes into  crescent moons. The smiled too, smiling shyly down at the other under his glasses.

Not again. It couldn't be? Jimin and...Eunwoo?

As Yoongi moved off his path and toward the pair, a bike bell chimed and a cyclist cut his path. He threw himself backwards, blinking rapidly after the boy who yelled his apologies from down the way.

When he turned back to the alley way, it was empty and his heart was a jackhammer to his chest.

/

The door slammed shut behind him and Jimin flinched from behind the fridge door. His brows arched up as he took in Yoongi's panting form.

"Hey?" he began, bemused. "How was Hyun-"

"Where were you just now?"

Jimin blinked, closing the fridge, PeanutButter in hand. "Okay, okay!  So I was eating from the jar, but in my defence I..." 

"You're lying! I just fucking saw you!"

Jimin blanched. "I'm not lying! How can I have been out? Jungkook left ten minutes ago and I'm still in my pyjamas! Why the hell are you screaming at me!?"

Yoongi closed his eyes. Because it made perfect sense. Everything made perfect sense but him.

"What're you even..." Jimin's  sentence dissolved on his tongue as Yoongi's eyes glazed over. "Hey...it's okay."

He set the peanut butter aside and swept across the room taking a lax Yoongi into his arms. "I'm sorry..." Yoongi mumbled into his neck.

"No, don't be..."

"I am. I'm sorry, I think...I think I'm just exhausted. Like, I'm thinking too much."

"I know..." Jimin  murmured , pressing a kiss to his shoulder. "Baby, I know. Don't worry."

"I shouldn't shout at you."

"It's okay..."

"It's not-"

"Look." Jimin sighed, pulling back, his thumbs caressing his cheek. "I'm not  hurt, am I? Do I look traumatised to you? It's okay, baby, I'm okay."

Yoongi nodded and Jimin tried to smooth the wrinkle still folding his brows. "I'm okay too." Yoongi murmured, weak from Jimin's touch.

"You're not...but that's okay," Jimin sighed painting a kiss to his forehead. "You're so stressed, baby. You should take some time off. Soon."

But Yoongi just blinked, something deep and emotional swimming in his eyes and this time, he refused to look away. Jimin blushed under his intense gaze. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

Yoongi shook his head. "You're incredible. You're so unreal. Sometimes I'm scared I'll wake up, and I'll still be alone."

Jimin smiled, pressing a kiss to his lips. "If this is a dream, if we wake up alone, use it as I would. To be better."

"How could you be better?" he murmured, before pulling Jimin into bone shaking kiss that had him whimpering all the way to balcony where they made love.

/

Taehyung sipped his virgin cocktail as Kookie sipped his diet coke. "Love, huh?" Tae hummed, cocking his head thoughtfully. "Ahhh, I fall in and out of love too quick. The Hyung's in my department always tell me so. But I think Namjoonie is different, even if they tease me for it."

"Yeah?"

Tae nodded, a light blush across the highs of cheeks. "Yeah, I think so."

"Why?"

Kookie too blinked on, wide eyed as his mouth closed around his straw. Tae smiled, staring dreamily across their table to the other side of the bar where a man and woman huddled close giggling behind their hands.

"When you're with them, your life is pretty."

"Pretty?"

"Yeah? Like you start to notice things, pretty things that you never noticed before. Like how nice the bakery smells, how lovely it is when the leaves change colours, all the songs you ever loved suddenly take on a new meaning. Everything around you is just...different."

Yoongi thought back to their journey back from the hospital, how he saw them each nook and cranny of downtown Daegu. He nodded. "What about you?"

Jungkook's eyes flew up. "H-Huh?"

"You ever been in love?"

"I uh..." his cheeks glowed red. "I think so, once."

"Aiiii Jungkookieee."

Yoongi shoved Taehyung with his foot. "Ow!"

"Don't tease him." he turned back to the youngest. "So... what do you think on love?"

"I uh... I  dunno she...well I didn't actually tell her but like. My head was  kinda dizzy and my heart would  sorta race, like it does before you speak to a crowd or go in for  a meeting with the principal. Like you're anticipating them all the time? But when she would put her hand on my arm or when she'd sort of...call my name, all the tension would leave. I just felt..." he shrugged. "At peace, I guess."

Yoongi let himself wade through Kookie's words in his mind. Let his mind be taken by Park Jimin, his heart racing, his palms sweating. A longing that was almost painful rushed in like a tender wave.

"I should drop you both back at the bus stop. You'll need to be back before your curfews."

Tae hummed. "Okay, but only if you buy us churros for the ride home!"

Yoongi was  about to complain, but when  Jungkookie's face brightened to match Taehyung's he couldn't tell either of them no. 

/

Yoongi was warm with the flush of alcohol on his trip back from the station. His belly was filled with beer and churros. And when he plucked a cigarette from his inside pocked on instinct, he realised that for the first time he didn't need it, and he pushed it back inside the packet.

As he neared their apartment... it happened. He suspected it was they were his lovers, ex and current who were huddled behind the swaying  trees.

Yoongi stopped and so did his heart. 

He daren't blink.

"Yoongi-yah!" the soft, sweet cry came from behind Yoongi instead. And he knew if he closed his eyes or turned away, the two would be gone, faded into the landscape like a mirage.

Here, he had a choice, his past battling with his future inside his chest. Rattling and shaking his soul as the  Mediterranean Sea met Indian Ocean. Each waiting in the wing, each capable of destroying the other with a feather like caress.

He closed his eyes.

He turned his back to the past.

And his future walked on toward him, under the fall of the autumn leaves, all wrapped up in scarves and a pale blue duster. The phantom frost  crystallised and faded on his candyfloss locks, and as Jimin's smile pushed his eyes into crescent moons, Yoongi couldn't help it when he swooned.

With a glance behind him, his assumptions were realised. The two were gone, and it was just him and the Jimin of his dreams and his reality. 

"Hyung?" came the younger's gentle tone, concern twisted in every  syllable . Yoongi turned back to him slowly.

"Hi." he rasped.

Jimin beamed as their gaze locked, spangling like a star under a copper sky. "What do you think?" he  murmured , shyly running his fingers through his newly coloured hair. "Does it look okay?

Yoongi didn't answer, his eyes simply smouldered as he pulled Jimin's hand from his scalp. Wide-eyed, Jimin blinked up under his lashes as the elder pushed his own fingers through the powder pink. He smiled as Jimin purred.

The blood still thrummed through his veins, his hands were still shaking, all it took was Jimin's hand, pressing his own to his cheek. 

A suddenly...there was peace.

"How can one person be this fucking beautiful..." he murmured, and before Jimin could even flush pink, he kissed him. Right there in the courtyard, damn the consequences.

All beauty of the world was here, when Jimin's lips quivered between his own.

/

Though Jimin's presence had calmed him, though their sex had been slow and healing, rolling on into the next morning, Yoongi still found his mind racing. The ground shaking, he could barely concentrate on the kids who came in for his sessions.

And so, after a shoddy midday performance, the both of them dressed head to toe in white, he begged that his Hyung let him rest. Jin, ever generous nodded his consent.

As they wander back to their apartment together, Yoongi stopped before the porch steps. Jimin  swivelled back, startled. "Baby?"

"I can't concentrate." he huffed.

Jimin smiled across the space between them, as kind and as gentle as ever. "That's okay, I'm sure Seokjinnie won't-"

"Will..." Yoongi cut in, his brow furrowed. "Will you do something for me?"

Jimin nodded, eyes shimmering. "Anything."

/

It turned out that perhaps all Yoongi was asking of him was a little physical  labour . They wheeled the piano with a systematic creak over the dirt, concrete and gravel, back behind market street and into the industrial district.

Jimin huffed a breath as they turned down a side street. "Aish, is it much further Hyungie?" he complained.

Yoongi smirked as he rolled to a stop by a large unit with a  graffiti tagged door. "This is the one." he murmured, plucking the untwisted wire hanger from the top of the instrument. 

"What're you-"

"Don't worry," Yoongi told him, wiggling the wire in the lock. "I come here  often; it's been abandoned for years."

"Why here?" Jimin wondered.

Yoongi shrugged, "It's airy, it's quiet...I come here when I need time to think or be alone."

Jimin smiled and finally the lock clicked. "You're showing it to me?" The elder nodded. He pushed down on the metal bar and into the  building , pulling the piano into the open area as Jimin kept stool steady on top.

/

The light filtered into the room through murky glass and Jimin turned on his feet. It was curiously pretty in a... massive sheets of corrugated metal sort of way.

"This is just...empty? What used to be here before?" he inquired aloud, dipping down and sifting through the abandoned boxes as Yoongi set up. He pulled out two  iridescent pieces of glass. One a sphere, the other rather hour glass in shape.

"My Mom." Yoongi whispered.

Jimin turned his eyes up to him, but Yoongi didn't turn as he set the stool on the floor. "She owned the building?"

"She made those things you're holding." he sighed, sliding into the seat. "Abstract stuff. She called the sphere 'My World' and the other 'Time  to Go'. That was the last she ever made."

Jimin's thumbs smoothed the glass and he rose to his feet, approaching the piano and Yoongi together. "Here." he placed the  pieces upon the piano's wood carefully. "She's with you."

Yoongi closed his eyes. "I hope so."

The words were so soft, so small, that Jimin wanted to kiss him. "Ahh..." he suddenly realised. "We forgot the sheet music! Oh crap. I can run back if you-"

"I don't need it." he promised. He took Jimin's hand, playing with his fingers and squeezing just once. "Will you dance? If you're tired you can say no."

"Of course. Of course I'll dance for you."

Yoongi nodded and pressed a kiss to Jimin's knuckles as he pulled away. He moved off like driftwood into the centre of the room, turning in a full circle, before bending his upper body and lifting his arms into their  starting position.

His eyes closed as Yoongi's did.

His feet took off with his fingers.

Yoongi played for him: their Fantasie Impromptu.

Jimin danced as he did the first time, this time without the weight of responsibility to weigh him down. His movements were light, flowing  seamlessly from one to the next. He spiralled like sandstorm, dipped like the valleys, his body and nature were one. All at once he was powerful, delicate and terrifyingly beautiful.

As Yoongi watched him circle the room, Chopin's notes dissolved into his own. A  piece of music designed only for them. For his hands and Jimin's feet. 

The younger didn't miss a step. He bent to will of Yoongi's song, as pliant and forgiving as he's always been. Their souls so perfectly in tune.

As always...as always, it came to a close. As the last note hung in the air, Yoongi turned his head back over his shoulder as Jimin lifted his own; sweat sheening his forehead.

He smiled. So brilliantly.

Yoongi eyes spangled liked the sun, his heart fluttered, his body warm and trembling.

And then: "Yoongi?"

Peace.

I'm in love with him, he realised, not a second later mentally adding: And I'm terrified...

/

_ "Love is terrifying..."  _

_ When Yoongi had asked  _ _ Hoseok _ _ how he knew he was in love, he hadn't expected such a response, most especially from a man who still in some capacity, loved the woman who had abandoned he and his little girl. Yoongi frowned his confusion. "Terrifying?" he  _ _ croaked; _ _ tears still fresh on his cheeks. _

_ "Terrifying. It changes you." Hobi murmured as the TV in the lounge filled the silence with some cartoon, Hope fixated on it. Yoongi sipped on his wine as Hobi went on. "Even when you hate them,  _ _ it's _ _ very hard to fall out of a real love. It's almost impossible to stop loving them. It takes a real big shift within you or someone very special to make you realise that the love left."  _

_ "Like Seokjin?"  _

_ Hobi breathed a tender chuckle. "You know...three days ago he took me on my first date since Mirae. Aside from every second I spend with my baby girl, I knew it to be one of, if not the most  _ _ pivotal _ _ moment of my life."  _

_ Yoongi tilted his head. "Why?"  _

_ "Because he changed me. In the course of a single night. From a confused and nervous wreck to the man I never knew I still had inside of me. That's what I think love really is. A change in your very nature, someone you become to benefit someone else and a 'you' who in turn, benefits your own life. It's not a mask you put on to hide yourself, but more that you...reveal someone you kept buried inside. Your flaws, perfections, everything inside of you laid bare. They  _ _ unravel _ _ you... and  _ _ yes, _ _ it's terrifying, and sometimes it might not end as you wish. But it's part of that journey and you learn from it. You learn to become more human. Love that incites a fear in you, so long as that fear is not rooted in force or violence, is a love that will last long after their body is gone. Because the only thing you should have to fear in love...is losing it." _

/

Jimin danced himself into the night...danced himself to sleep. Until he fell under slumber's spell, tucked against Yoongi's shoulder as the elder played on into the wee hours of the morning.

He finally lifted his fingers at 4:44am, the sun slung low and colouring their skin. He turned his eyes to his left and down, taking his foot from the pedal and using his thumb to press down upon Jimin's bottom lip.

His lashes cast  shadows over his skin, there was a little pimple on the right-hand cheekbone, and those lips were a little chapped from the winter wind from whence he came. Yoongi smiled down at him, entranced.

He realised it was the first time he'd looked at his face this  closely ...and saw more than his obvious beauty. He saw scars, pain and zombie like exhaustion. It didn't change a thing about how he felt.

After a beat, he dipped his head and kissed him, morning breath be damned. It roused the younger, who hummed,  content as his eyes cracked open. "Hey..."

"Thank you." Yoongi whispered. "I feel better now."

Jimin didn't seem to fully understand but he nodded. "You're welcome."

Yoongi pulled back a little. "Wanna go home and sleep till noon?"

"Yes please." he murmured rubbing his eyes and yawning wide. 

Yoongi hummed laugh and when Jimin slid off the stool with him, he handed the younger the two glass sculptures. "Hold them for me? Keep them safe."

Jimin nodded. "What about the piano?"

"I'll take it." he murmured, stacking the stool over the piano back. "You're still half asleep." 

Jimin nodded. "Uhuh."

/

They waddled back to their apartment together, Jimin moving ahead in case the stool fell down. The walked in comfortable, thought-filled silence all the way and Yoongi nudged the piano with his eyes fixed on the bubble-gum coloured head before him.

He managed to shove it up the ramp to the porch but when they got to the bottom of the stairs, Jimin groaned. "Aish! I forgot the elevator was broken. I can help you if I just-"

"No,  s'okay ..." Yoongi grumbled, sleep deprivation sinking in. He shoved open the  maintenance cupboard by the stairs, just long and wide enough to slide it inside and squeeze the door shut.

"Won't Minyoung..."

"We'll get it later on." he promised. "Besides, the cleaners only come once a week." Jimin nodded, gripping the glass tight but swaying a little on his feet.

Yoongi breathed a chuckle and slid an arm round his waist and behind his knees. "What're you..."

But Yoongi ignored him and pulled him up bridal style. 

Jimin blinked up at him, the glass clutched to his chest. "What?" Yoongi mumbled. "S'not like I've never carried you up these stairs before..." 

/

As Jimin's feet hit the apartment floor, their hair stood on end, two shivers wove their way in unison down each spine. Jimin took a moment to stop, his whole body very much aware that Yoongi was so close he could feel his warmth.

The stood for a second, in shock at the onslaught of sensation, but eventually Jimin turned, handing him his time and his world in glass form.

"I should shower first..." he murmured, not quite able to hold the elder's gaze for long. Yoongi took them as he turned away, breath  caught in his throat. But seven steps later he called out to him; a hollow tone across the floorboards.

"Okay."

Jimin froze, turning back slowly. "Okay?"

"Okay... we'll try this."

Something like a spark flickered before Jimin's eyes and he watched Yoongi carefully. "T-Try..."

"This." he gestured between the two. "Try us."

Jimin's face broke slowly into the widest and teariest of smiles. His heart soared. He let out the most joyful little noise somewhere between a giggle and a hiccup. "Yoongi..." he breathed.

"Please, please keep your expectations low. I still might not be able to give you grand public gestures, walking hand in hand, dates and all that old school romance that I have no fucking clue how to-"

"I don't need any of that." he implored, sweeping forward and gathering Yoongi's slowly plumping cheeks in his palms. "I don't need it."

Yoongi nodded. "I'll try my best..."

But suddenly Jimin's eyes glazed, his expression faltered and fell with his hands. "Wait, if you're doing this because you pity me, I don't-"

"I'm in love with you." Those words had Jimin frozen... like polaroid picture, an image lost in time. "At least I think I am. Everything everyone had explained about it...it all feels the same. All those, butterflies and being terrified, the adrenaline. You make me wanna be better, be brave and be human. My world is prettier when I'm with you. I've never felt anything like this before but when I think about it...when's the last time I stole some shit? Or really snapped at someone, panicked or pushed you away? I don't need to now, I don't need that rush, I don't feel the need to protect myself. Jimin-ah, I always had this hole inside me and I didn't know how to fill it. Even before my parents died it was the same. Ever since you it's like...you've slowly filled me in, and with you came others. My heart didn't burst like I thought it would...it just expanded to fit you all in. Now I don't need the shiny mirrors or the trinkets or the bells. I have a home, I have music, I have fucking plant called Norman." Jimin spluttered a little chuckle, Yoongi smirked in return. "And I've got you, right?" 

There was a pregnant pause and  contrary to Yoongi's original belief, Jimin's reply was short and  sweet. "You love Norman really." 

Yoongi scoffed and pulled away, rounding the sofa "Like fuck I do. He's a crusty old plant."

Jimin faux gasped and rushed to Norman's side, arms loose around his stalks "How dare you! He is lush and full and he's our first born!" 

"Excuse you, Hope is our first." 

"Hope is Hyung's, you petty  thief ." 

"Fine! Then Jungkook!" 

Jimin smirked nuzzling Norman's leaves, after a  moment's consideration, he conceded. " Jungkookie then." 

His  smile was infectious and Yoongi, as he placed his mother's glass by Namjoon's radio, had to press his lips together to hold one back himself.

The younger nudged his thigh with his toe. "Aish, just smile you moron." 

And Yoongi did; wide, gummy and uncommonly pretty. "Ah," Jimin whispered, releasing Norman from his grip. "There you are..."

Before the elder could answer, Jimin was in his arms, and his lips were taken in a sweeping kiss.

/

If Yoongi had expected some magical life transformation  overnight , or for Jimin to suddenly be clung to his hip, he knew days later that he wrong. Not much had changed at all, beside the fact that Jimin didn't scoot away from him as soon as he'd realised, he'd scooted too close. He didn't apologise anymore if he kissed him for a little too long before work. He didn't avert his eyes when Yoongi caught him staring.

It was nicer...even if it made the elder a little bashful.

On Thursday night they were clearing up the lounge at the  right-hand corner, ready to make room for their second hand TV.

"Hey Yoongi?"

"Mm?" the elder looked up from the books he was pushing in colour order (Jimin's idea) onto his little used book shelf. 

"What about all this stuff?"

He gestured to the little pile of stolen  knickknacks glimmering by the sliding doors. Yoongi smiled down at them like old friends and lost causes. But he took his breath and met Jimin's pretty eyes. "Throw them."

The candy haired, amber eyed angel, grinned and with quick kiss pressed to Yoongi's cheek he was scooping them into a black bag. But Yoongi spoke again,  surprising him.

"Throw the box out too."

"The..."

"The box, in my dresser, the lingerie..."

"Yoongi... you don't just have to do that just because I-"

But Yoongi took him by the collar and kissed him into silence. "I don't need it." he promised against his lips. "I don't need them anymore."

Pride shining behind his eyes, Jimin nodded. "Okay..."

/

Yoongi jogged down the winding case of stairs with a hoard of cardboard hugged to his chest, he used his butt to push down the exit handle and waddled down to the dumpsters to discard the rubbish.

Something as before caught his eyes. Way over by the oak tree.  A image smudge and blurred from so far away.  Eunwoo it seemed, with a woman. She reached about his shoulder in height, with dark,  glossy hair and a smile spun from sunshine. She wore a long pink coat and powder pink heels, finished with what looked to be a bow.

Her round cheeks were squished into her eyes as she turned to glance at Yoongi and something tremored in his heart.

His lashes fluttered...

And they were gone.

He shook his head, shook them away. He took a deep breath and turned back into the building, unwilling to let his tired mind stir him.

/

On the Friday, six of  them (excluding Hobi who had politely declined) met for hotpot after work. The chill of a Fall evening had their tummies rumbling and their bodies wrapped in wool and thick cotton. 

Namjoon, the last the finish, was greeted by Taehyung's hearty kisses to which Yoongi scowled and Jin thwacked him, urging Taehyung him to behave.

Still they stayed close as they ate together, catching the other in regular intervals, staring on at them in wonder. Though Yoongi was deep down glad of their happiness, he couldn't help his guilt when he saw Jimin glance at them all gooey, both he a Yoongi a foot a part and avoiding each other's eyes lest somebody comment on it and make Yoongi uncomfortable.

But as Yoongi's hand slid across the leather, on course for Jimin's thigh, the younger spoke, halting him in his path. "Seokjinnie-Hyungggg, why couldn't our Hoseokie come?"

Jin grimaced around his mouthful of hotpot and swallowed. "You want the truth or his version?"

The  statement even caught the attention of the canoodling lovers, Tae lifting his head from Namjoon's shoulder. Yoongi shifted forward into the lowlight of the lamps. "What do you mean?"

Jin sighed. "Hobi would like me to tell you that he was working late and is tired. While the latter part is true, him working late is a lie. What it really is, is that he can't afford it, he's running low on money and he refuses to let any of us pay for him."

Yoongi groaned and sunk back into his seat. "That crazy bastard. He knows a few won means nothing to us for them."

"I know."  Jin sighed, "But it means something to him. 'A parent must provide for their child' he said.  Apparently, it shouldn't be our job to hand him money for his daughter."

Jungkook seemed to shift uncomfortably in his seat. "Doesn't...Hopey have a Mother? Can she help?"

"Somewhere she does." Namjoon explained. "But Hope hasn't seen her since she was a baby."

"Poor Hope-ah..." Tae hummed. "Does her mother pay for Hope to live?"

"From what Hobi told me she does, but it's in very short bursts and the when of when she sends him that money is not always  guaranteed ."  Jin sighed. "So, who knows? All we can do is try to convince him to accept a little help."

Yoongi swallowed the lump in his throat and shifted, catching Jimin's attention as he did. The younger frowned at him, curious at the sudden determination that fell across his features.

/

Jimin sat cross legged as the  K-drama's theme tune weaved out into the silent room. He frowned across the distance as Yoongi sat with furrowed brows and carefully carved words into the paper.

"What're you doing?" he wondered aloud, Yoongi didn't look up as he spoke.

"Writing lyrics for-"

"No, you're not."

Yoongi blinked and turned his eyes to meet the younger's. "And why would say that?"

"Because when you write lyrics you do it out on the balcony. When you write lyrics, you scribble them. Almost as if you want them unreadable to anyone but yourself. You also don't frown, when you're really into them, your face is smooth and emotionless. Almost like you're asleep."

Yoongi blinked and looked back down at the page of perfect cursive. "I don't know what you want me to tell you."

Jimin exhaled and uncrossed his legs, leaning  forward . "I don't want to pressure you, you know that. But one of the most important things in any relationship is honesty and trust. I at least want you to trust me enough to tell me the truth."

Yoongi closed his noted pad and sighed. "You'll hate me for it."

"I think we've figured by now that it's not inside me to hate you."

"Then you'll get angry and tell me off."

"Well we won't know that until you explain."

Yoongi watched him for a moment, but Jimin's gaze remained unwavering. "Fine..." he reopened his book to the paragraph in question and handed it to his lover, plopping down beside him on the sagged sofa. 

"Thank you." Jimin whispered, pressing a kiss to his shoulder. Then he turned his attention to Yoongi's words.

** Hoseokie ** ** , **

** I miss you and our baby girl so madly. All I can wish is that you and our Hope are happy and healthy and safe, and that you are finding that all in each other as well as the people around you. **

** I have attached some money for- **

Jimin blinked, gobsmacked by the revelation. "Is this supposed to be from..."

Yoongi nodded. "Yeah...I mean...for a few years, she actually did send them herself but... she suddenly just stopped and he was struggling and so heartbroken and his pride was too much to ask anyone to help."

"So you... pretended to be Mirae? To be her mother?" he murmured.

"You're mad." he groaned, head  in his hands. "I knew you'd be-"

"I'm not mad." Yoongi lifted his head to a gaze of pure and unabashed affection. "I think this is the sweetest thing."

Yoongi's heart fluttered. "Yeah?"

"Yes." Jimin confirmed. "But you have to tell them."

Yoongi huffed, his heart sunk like a battleship. "I can't! Jimin, it will crush her, it will crush Hobi even more. What's the harm in a few won and the odd letter? They don't even know that it's me."

"One day..." Jimin sighed, taking Yoongi's hands before he moved on. "One day she will discover that it was a lie. One day when you're not here anymore. One day she will meet her mother and be even more heartbroken than before. False hope...it's sometimes worse than no hope at all. Because the fall is much longer, and when you hit the ground, it hurts so much more. And besides  what's better, having the fake love of a  non-existent mother or to know there was a man across the hallway who loved her and her father so much that he was willing to give all he had when he had nearly nothing left to give."

And then Yoongi's heart dropped like a stone, because he was right. "What if they hate me for it."

"It's like I said, you won't know until its done. But I don't understand if he was angry, how he could be mad at you for long. And I'm not sure Hope could be mad at you at all."

/

Jimin waited behind him like a pillar of support, as Yoongi reluctantly wrapped on the door to No.8. 

The elder rocked on his feet and waited for the answer, glancing back at Jimin worriedly.

'You got this.' he mouthed, as the door was pulled open and Hobi appeared from behind it, ruffled, but with a smile.

"A Yoonmin-ah!" he chuckled, his voice breaking a little at the seams. "Have you come to visit Hopey, she's just..."

"No..." Yoongi told him. "I've come because...well, because you were honest with me when I asked you about love. And fuck. I think it's about time I'm honest with you."

Hobi's brows knitted up and his lips were lax in a pout. "Uh, what about, Hyungie?"

And then Yoongi did it, with Jimin behind him, he leapt from the ledge... "The letters, those letters from Mirae..." he whispered. "I. .. I wrote them. The money was from me. I'm sorry I just...fuck. I'm sorry."

There was a pause as Yoongi tumbled, his mind running away with him, but Hobi spoke and he landed. Caught in the father's arms. "I know."

Yoongi's head snapped up like a whip. "What? How could you...but you're-"

Hobi smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck. "I've not known long... but a while back... Hope told me once in the morning she'd heard me cry. But that I didn't need to worry because: 'Unca Yoofie said he would make it better.'" he laughed fondly, eyes shiny from the mixture of memories and mirth. "It was the morning after the last letter had arrived and I put two and two together. Suddenly it all made sense."

Yoongi's heart was in turmoil, neither dropping nor taking off. "I'm so sorry Hoseok-ah..."

"What for!" Hobi laughed, tears shining in his eyes. "You saved my ass countless times and didn't ask for a word of thank you. But, don't worry you won't have to do that any-"

"Don't-" He interupted. "Don't do that shit. Don't shut us out. It aint worth it. Believe me, I know."

Hobi blinked, his tone dropping an octave to pronounce his seriousness. "Hope is not your respons-"

"Bull shit." he scoffed. "Hope is good as my  niece , if not my adoptive daughter."

"B-but I'm-"

"No," Yoongi sighed. "Hobi look...I don't know what we were before, but I'd like to think now that eight of us...Hope included, that we are something like family. A  strange ,  dysfunctional family, but a family nonetheless. And as your Hyung, it is my duty provide for both you and Hope now that your sister has gone abroad and your parents are no longer living."

Hoseok didn't answer, his lip trembling and his walls crumbling. "Yoongi."

"Don't shut us out Hoseok-ah...like I said, it will do nothing good for you or for Hope. We're a family now...right? We look after each other. No questions, no fucking shame. You'd do the same for me, you stubborn shit."

Hobi didn't answer, so Yoongi warily gripped his shoulders. "You've been way too strong for way too long on your own." he told him. " So it's okay...fall apart. I got you. We got you."

And he did. His resolve fell almost instantly and he shattered into Yoongi's hold. The elder hushed him and pulled him out of the door way, shutting the door to so Hope wouldn't hear them. 

He held Hobi in his arms as muffled cries were sobbed into his shoulder. 

And when he turned to Jimin, the younger looked on with such  crystal-clear pride Yoongi almost blushed. He coughed, awkward as ever and beckoned him over with a gesture of his head.

Jimin came in behind Hobi and together the cocooned him. They held the pieces together while the glue dried and fixed him up.

/

Pink heels with pretty bows clicked along the tile of the fourth floor and stopped before the door to No.7. The woman in pink took her little silver chain and pulled it over her head, grasping the key that swung from it like a pendant.

She pushed down the handle as she pushed the key into the lock and turned, effectively  silencing the hearty click it should have made had she not.

The lady let herself in, as though she has been there for years, her figure sweeping from the doorway to the screen that  separated their bed from lounge.

She moved around it carefully from the  shadows , the moon beaming down upon the sleeping men and washing them out. She approached them quietly, a soft smile settled upon her lips.

The mystery woman turned to Yoongi, his lips parted, Jimin's head on a rise and fall with his chest. "Thank you." she whispered, tears sparkling in her eyes.

She turned too to Jimin. "Thank you." she repeated, before turning back into the shadows.

Yoongi awoke with a violent  twitch, bolting up-right and Jimin rolling from his chest in the process. He blinked blearily into the shadows...nothing as yet to be found.

"Hmph." Jimin whined. "Wha's wrong?"

"I could have  sworn I heard..."

Jimin cracked an eye, curiously. "Heard what?"

But he shook his head, allowing the younger to pull him back into the circle of his arms. "Nothing..." he whispered, his fingers tracing the word scrawled across Jimin's ribcage and coaxing the most delicious shivers from his core. " Never mind ."


	8. Walls Which Were Tall, But Frail

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Jimin gets some devastating news about his family and Yoongi, Hope and the boys have band together to pull a smile from his lips. (there is an alluded to suicide of and Original Character mentioned here so tread careful if you're super sensitive to that sorta subject. It doesn't go into any sort of detail tho don't worry.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 9 and 10 (the final) are both planned out and just need writing! So don't worry angels! This aint finished yet! <3

The morning sun brought Autumn leaves on the breeze, fluttering through the window and settling on Yoongi's inked bicep. Jimin took the stem between his thumb and his forefinger, chuckling as he held the amber  article up to the light. Yoongi himself, he huffed a laugh, fingers grazing Jimin's side where his words were etched into his skin.

"It's really Fall, huh?"

Jimin smirked. "Here it's is, back where I'm from it must be new year. The dead of Winter."

"Are you cold? Aish, I forgot about that..." the elder worried, tugging the blankets up around them. But Jimin's eyes were pushed into smiley little arches and he peeled the blankets back to their waists.

"You've come quite a way since we met." he whispered, burrowing his cotton candy locks into Yoongi's chest. "Don't worry. I got you to keep me warm."

A noise  rumbled deep in Yoongi's chest and he carded Jimin's hair as the younger smiled against his skin. "Jimin?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you really think she was a witch?"

The younger lifted his gaze, cheek pressed against the pillow. "Who?"

"The one who told you to come here? Somang, I think it was...?"

"Oh." he drew circles against his  lover's chest. Just above the koi. "Maybe. I mean against all odds I'm here, right?"

"Yeah..." he pressed his lips together and didn't lift his head. "You think...that maybe she could bring my parents here? Like from another time line?"

Jimin's gaze dropped too, meeting Yoongi's where his fingers traced the cursive scrawled against his ribcage.  ** Nevermind ** ... He thought of his brother in that moment, trapped in his home and wondering if Jimin was dead or alive. "I don't know. Even if she did, they might not be the people you thought them to be." he admitted.

There was pause, filled only by the whistle of the wind and the titters of the trees as crumbling leaves clattered together. Then Yoongi's voice cut through it all like a butter knife. "He was fisher man... my Dad. Too handsome to be one really. And she was a concert pianist. Unusual for women back then and even more unusual as her hands were so small."

"Hey..." Jimin chastised, so gently it could barely be dubbed so. "I have little hands too."

"You do..." he snorted, pulling one up and caressing his knuckles with a kiss. He let it linger a while, he let himself stew in thought. "It's my fault they're gone."

"Don't say that." Jimin hushed.

"It's true." When Yoongi's eyes lifted, there was frank sort of shame there, agony that had faded from years of feeling it. "They'd spent months before busting their asses to buy me that piano behind the screen. He picked her up that night from the late shift. And Appa was so  exhausted he fell asleep... a lorry came out the cross roads and that was it. Gone."

Jimin closed his eyes and turned their hands, so he could press a kiss to Yoongi's instead.

"I was 7 years old." Yoongi continued and suddenly he sounded so, Jimin wanted to shield him. "After that I was shipped off to my uncle's place and they saw me only as a burden. A reminder of the all his sister had wasted to marry my Dad. He and his wife treated me as such. As a waste. They gave my piano to  Taehyungie , but when he showed  no interest, they sold it on. It somehow ended up back with me."

"Just like I did." Jimin whispered.

"Mm, yeah, exactly."

Jimin hummed as Yoongi mulled it all over and craned his neck to press and kiss to his forehead. "Thank you for telling me that."

"You're thanking me for telling you the truth?"

"Yes. I know it's hard for you talk at the best of times. Never mind about something that hurts you."

Yoongi nodded. "Do you think so too? That  it's my fault."

"No." was the immediate answer. "You never asked them to do that. Though you are clearly grateful by the way you've chased it all these years. You neither drove the lorry or that car. It was nothing but an accident. A tragic one."

Yoongi didn't speak on, in fact, he simply gazed down out the younger, not once turning away for a good thirty seconds.

"We should grab a lazy Sunday brunch." Jimin suggested. "Down at the cafe."

"We could go to Gnammy?" Yoongi suggested. "Namjoon will be-"

"No." Jimin insisted. "Just you and me today. Let's be quiet and get fat together."

Yoongi snorted. "I bet you've never be fat in your damn life."

"I was chubby when I was young!" Jimin blushed. "Before I started dancing."

"Yeah?" Yoongi wondered. "Hm."

"Would you not still like me if I was chubby?" Jimin teased.

"I mean that ass would be twice as thick so I think I could live with- OW!" he complained as Jimin shoved him. 

"Men..." he groaned.

/ 

The days rolled on and work grew more tiresome. With so many kids banging down the door with their parents by their side, Yoongi barely had time to breathe, let alone spend some quality time with Jimin.

Jimin too was being pulled from this place to that, his garnered interest earning him spots in several dance  competitions . This meant that most of the time Yoongi was home, and with him home, Jimin would be in the studio practicing.

The only time they came together was at night, where Yoongi would huff and throw and arm around Jimin's aching body. Despite his frustration, he'd knead away the tension from his muscles, but any other contact they had was a fleeting blow job or what Namjoon teased to be 'their weaponised discussions'.

And the further apart the  drifted , the more anger was woven between the lines.

It would be about the most trivial of things. Yoongi leaving the toothpaste open. Jimin who took all the bottled water. 

All these little things culminated in an explosion on a cold night, when a  miscommunication had left  Jungkookie waiting at a bus stop in the rain. After they'd finally retrieved him, wrapped him up in blankets and sent him back to his home, they arrived back at the apartment. Jimin dumping the keys with a crash on the pass.

"You have no fucking right to be angry at me! If I didn't answer  you, I obviously didn't get the damn message!" Yoongi spat.

"Bullshit!" Jimin  shrieked . "You don't answer me now even if you do get the message!"

"If I didn't answer with a solid yes, surely it would have been safer to go and find Jungkookie yourself? Instead of leaving him in the rain and hoping for the best."

"I TOLD you that this week I couldn't come away from the studio! The final is next week. The prize money could set us up for three months of rent!" he implored coming with in reaching distance of the elder.

"Is that all that fucking matters to you anymore?" Yoongi scoffed, plucking a cig from his top pocket. "The money?"

With a stabbing pain in his heart, Jimin clutched at his chest, and for the first time in months he was knocked, breathless. Yoongi, having turned away, didn't even notice him swaying. And it stirred Jimin's core like a bubbling volcano. He growled.

Snatching the cigarette and packet from his pocket, he threw open the sliding doors, stormed across the balcony and launched them over the edge. And as the rain hammer down, it slid over Jimin's aura like oil and instead, delicate little snowflakes began to fade in, settling silently  amongst his  bubble-gum locks.

"What the fuck is wrong with you!" Yoongi yelled, as Jimin stepped back into the  apartment , his jaw set. 

"Are you fucking kidding me!" he laughed, but there was no mirth in his eyes. "All I've ever done since I've come here has been for you! All I wanted was for you to feel safe and secure! All I ever do is for you Yoongi! I'm only here for because of you."

"If  that's the case, then you  shouldn't fucking be here!"

Jimin had to brace himself on the TV, and this time, Yoongi saw the impact of his words directly. He closed his eyes. "Jimin."

But, hand clutching at his heart, Jimin shook his head. "No, d-don't bother, maybe you're right." as he moved toward the door Yoongi caught his wrist. He tugged it away. "Don't." he warned and the door was thrown open. 

Yoongi watched it slam shut behind him.

/

Jimin walked for a while in  a cold that only he could feel. But it only took him a few minutes to realise how silly the argument had been, and how they had both misunderstood each other gravely.

He looked out into the night through the window of  Keopi Keopi and sighed. Pressing his  forehead to the glass as his coffee cooled on the table top. 

Yoongi had been just as pressured to live up to Jimin's wild devotion, as Jimin had been to live up to his fantasies.

At the end of the day, they both put too much pressure on each other and more importantly themselves.

Jimin left his payment plus tip at his table and  disappeared again into the  darkness .

/

As the door clicked open, both Yoongi and Tae shot up, their brows furrowed and their faces much paler than usual.

"Yoongi I-" Jimin's eyes snapped to Taehyung. "Oh...uh, Taehyungie...what are you doing here so late?"

But with the weird tension crackling between them, a lump was forming in Jimin's throat. "You should sit down Jiminie..." Tae suggested.

"Why? What's going on?"

"Jimin..." That voice, the  velveteen drawl. It soothed him. He turned his eyes to Yoongi who implored him with his own. "You should sit."

So, shrugging off his coat and kicking off his shoes, he perched himself on the edge of the squishy sofa, Yoongi and Tae sat stiffly on the newer side by side.

"I had a call today...and. .. something has happened, something sad but I thought you should know because-"

But Tae's babbles were cut short by Jimin's even timbre. "Taetae..." he murmured. "Just tell me."

"It's your brother, the one in this world..."

"Wh-what about-"

"He's dead, Jimin-ah..." Jimin blinked, a hollowness in his chest at Yoongi's sudden words.

"What?"

"He died Jiminie..." Tae repeated.

"But..." Jimie laughed, the panic rising in his chest like acid. "He's always been so healthy! He's perfect. I-"

"He was." Tae confirmed. "Physically, he was fine."

Then it clicked. "No..." Jimin shook his head. "No. He wouldn't. He didn't."

Tae grimaced and held out the opened letter in his palm. "He sent this to me, probably before he passed, I just received it this morning."

Jimin, hands trembling, tugged the letter from the envelope. He unfolded it.

To my Hyung (in  heaven) ...

As Jimin's eyes scrolled the page, the emotion bled from his expression. Until he lowered the papers, just a shell and moved like as spectre to their bedroom in silence.

"Jimi-"

But Yoongi held Tae back before he could follow him. "Don't, we should leave him for now."

"But-"

"Trust me." Yoongi asked, sincerity ribboned for each and every feature. "All I want is what is best for him. I'll look after him."

"Okay..." Tae sniffled. Yoongi cupped his wet cheeks  briefly before pulling his cousin into a tight embrace.

"Everything will be okay...call Namjoonie, or drop round, let him hold you. And drive safe."

With his instructions, Tae nodded. He left with a 'love you.'

Yoongi felt bad that he couldn't utter those words in return, whether he loved Taehyung or not.

/

After a few  lonely hours, Yoongi found Jimin in the dark, still...turned to the wall.

He clicked on the fairy lights that the younger had strung above their bed, before climbing into it behind him. They didn't speak the whole night through. But Yoongi stroked his lover's arm drawing goosebumps to the surface. 

Jimin fell into an uneasy sleep at around 4am, still...Yoongi didn't pull his fingers away. He daren't.

/

The weeks that came had them focusing on Jimin  solely , each of them working to pull him from his stupor.

Basic self-care had gone out of the window, and most of the time, Yoongi had to carry him to the shower or beg him to take a bite.

He didn't attend the dance finals, but Yoongi doubted that he'd even remember by this point.

Tae tried his hand first, tried with tales of their  uni - escapades, never really pausing for breath. But that just seemed to pain him further.

Namjoon tried grand,  philosophical speeches about life, death, and meaning. But that merely began to overwhelm him.

Seokjin too tried his hand, with a much sharper and brighter sense of 'up and at em'. But though life did go on, Jimin wanted no part of it.

Then there was Jungkookie, who tried to play the lost son, it almost worked for a time, but then Jimin began drown in his guilt. He wouldn't want his brother to feel replaced.

Hobi attempted a softer, fatherly approach; in short, he coddled him. But this did nothing but facilitate him, and he ended up even more static than ever.

Even Yoongi couldn't tug him free of his bonds, with all his patience, gentle nudging and 'keep calm and carry on'. Jimin just wouldn't budge, stubborn as he had ever been.  Because now, every time he looked into his lover's eyes, he was reminded of the Yoongi that he had lost that day. He was reminded of the Yoongi who died trying to find him. 

/

It was time for their final hope,  quite literally in this case. The little girl tottered across the room on a mission, her dark hair pulled up into a bun and adorned with little pink flowers.

She disappeared behind the screen with a little bunch of wild bloom and left her uncles and her Daddy in anticipation on the sofas.

For a while it was just soft whispers, and it was still more than anyone else had ever gotten out of him.

Hope emerged twenty minutes later, hand in hand with her uncle, his other clutching her boquete. He was sleepy looking, his cheeks were pink, but he looked Yoongi in the eyes as Yoongi met him half way.

And he collapsed into his  lover's arms, his body shaken with sobs.

"See!" Hope cheered. "Pretty flowers always makes it okayer." 

/

Jimin started to mend, but it was incredibly slow. Each time he woke, there would be a second where he would remember, and Yoongi saw it flicker like a burnt reel of film just to dissolve.

Each time he  smiled; it never quiet reached his eyes.

When he kissed Yoongi, it was quick,  and it no way near held the passion it had previously.

So Yoongi would compensate, he'd smile wider, laugh a little too loud. He'd kiss him every chance he got. But Jimin knew that he too was forcing it, and Yoongi knew that he'd pick up on it when he did. They were just... pushing themselves along.

In the meanwhile, the elder had called up a Lodge owner. Up in the mountains and by a lake. Somewhere that seemed much vaster than their pain. After all, it was  beginning to feel like Yoongi's pain these days too.

Their brothers booked a day from work each.

In a desperate attempt to heal Jimin, they drove down there for the weekend. Three of them with Hobi, three with Joon. The lovers hopped in with Hoseokie and Hope, the little girl a god send and drawing the first real giggles like a bubble from Jimin's throat. 

Yoongi only realised how wide he was smiling when Hobi caught his eyes through rear view mirror, and he blushed, deciding instead to watch the lake as it drew near and opened up like an icy bloom in the distance.

Sometime later, with a guitar in stum and the heater lulling them both like a cradle, both Jimin and Hope surrendered to the call of slumber. Hope, with her cheek squished cutely  agains her car seat and Jimin, with his cheek squished cutely against Yoongi. Yoongi's fingers carded his hair; the pink colour was beginning to fade a little.

And when Jimin clung steadfast to his warmth, his heart skipped a beat. 

A question rung like screech through a sea cave. What if? What if? What if?

/

Day one of two was pretty to say the least. The took breakfast by the dock and with Jin and Kookie's help, Hope caught her first fish with a net. The others sat by, clinking glasses, looking out upon light spangled ripples as the sun rose into the sky above them.

Jimin and Yoongi watched the others from the boardwalk, as they played om  jet skis and motorised boats. It was too cold in Jimin's world to be on the water, so they huddled close, before joining Hobi and Hope for a game of ping pong under the willow tree. The branches weeping lava leaved confetti for autumn.

Jimin helped Jin and Hope cook later on, as the others attempted to bring them in something yummy from their rod.

Yoongi was the one who caught it, to rapturous applause and joyful hoots. Hobi like a seal, Kookie throwing his head back as he laughed and Namjoon cheering out in glee, so bored by this point that he would have done anything to go back inside.

Then there was Tae, who full body tackled him to the grass.

"Get off me!" Yoongi complained as his cousin rolled them across the lawn and Namjoon wrestled the fish into the cool box. Jin called them in as the sun set behind the mountains. And the world was red with love.

Jimin stood by Jin's side as he called their names, an apron tied tight around his trim waist and Hope at thighs giggling. With his heart beat skipped, Yoongi imagined what Park Jimin would have been as a father.

Beautiful, he imagined. Sweet and doting.

Jin prepared the fish and Yoongi grilled it up on the BBQ. And the others sat giggling under the canopy, the festoon lights bobbing in the breeze and Jimin like the lost star among the crowd. His gaze fading in and out. His smile so passive it could have belonged to a shop window  mannequin .

He shivered when Yoongi slid into the bench beside him, placing the plate of fish in the centre for them to ravage.

"You cold?" he wondered, pulling Jimin's coat up around him. Jimin nodded, his eyes doe like as he blinked up at him. So, Yoongi pulled him into his side and with his chopsticks, filled Jimin's place with fish and veggies.

"Eat." he grumbled. "It'll keep you warm. You got too thin."

Jimin smiled then because of him, for the first time since that letter arrived. Even though it was forced and strained, it was a start and it was all that Yoongi asked for. Jimin complied graciously with his request, stuffing himself until his belly was bloated and he was almost waddling back to house after their meal. 

He took to the stage thrice for  Karaoke . One with Tae and Kook, Once with Jin and Joon, then the next with Hope. They sang together, the sweetest duet, Hobi tearing a little and Yoongi snorting as Jin pressed a kiss to his forehead.

Yoongi refused point blank to  participate and instead spent his time cackling at the others as Jimin dozed and chuckled weakly from under his arm, the blankets pulled up around him by the crackling of the fire. 

Once they saw both Jimin and Hope dozing, they settled instead for  conversation and cocoa. It wasn't long, Yoongi's body warmed by the beverage, before Jimin was lost to the world, nuzzled snug into Yoongi's chest above his heart.

That steady thrum was the perfect lullaby.

Yoongi shifted so they were tilted back and with eyes all honeyed, he pressed a simple kiss to Jimin's forehead under his bangs, as he swept them back from his eyes.

It came so naturally that he almost forgot there were others in the room. Until he felt five sets of eyes  burning into the side of his face.

"What?" he murmured, not turning his gaze from Jimin's face.

"Are you together?" Kookie asked,  quite blatant in his tone. Though the others thwacked and chastised him, Yoongi nodded.

"Yeah, I think we are... I mean he's mine. My Jimin."

Tae almost screeched but he covered his mouth before he could. Yoongi couldn't meet their gaze even if he meant it, because this was big. Too big really. Too big for them to bear.

/

Yoongi carried his lover to their glamourous little  Tepee in bridal style, thanking his lucky stars that he'd remembered to keep it closed and to turn the heater to full. The sheets still pulled back from his nap, he lay Jimin out on their bed like a king, the fiery glow of the lamp light warming his skin. 

Yoongi couldn't help it, he was tracing those lovely features with delicate finger tips. His brow bone, his nose, cheek and his lips. "You don't know what the fuck you mean to me Park Jimin. Fuck, you've come into my life like  hurricane and flipped this shit upside down. And now it's like I'm seeing the world through a totally different lens. My life is so pretty since you came here, Jimin. It's even prettier when you smile and mean it. I'll make you smile like that once more if it kills me, baby boy. Even once, I promise." 

From afar came a sleepy little voice. "Yoofie!"

Ah, Hope. The press of a body beside Jimin's own was lifted and duvet tucked around his body. The elder left with two sweeping zips from the tent door.

Only then did Jimin dare to open his eyes, blinking up at the silver stars, trickling from the canvas above him.

He decided then, life must go on. And he he would work harder to become happier. For Yoongi. For the man who had given him everything he had left.

/

The others left them in the morning, before Yoongi or Jimin had even stirred, packed into two cars, the lovers would get a taxi back Sunday evening. Leaving them two full days alone.

When Yoongi woke to an empty bed that Saturday, he would admit that for a  good few seconds he was horrified. But upon leaving the tent to a coming dawn and silhouette that swayed down by the docks, he sighed a breath of relief.

Jimin was stood solitary by the lake, huddled up with a thick blanket that he'd wrapped tight around his shoulders. As Yoongi approached him, stopping silently by his side, the younger didn't even so much as flinch. His eyes still caught on a dream. 

"You should come back." Yoongi whispered. Jimin's lashes fluttered shut, but he didn't move, nor did his tranquil expression. "Jimin?" Yoongi tried. "Baby it's col-"

He was cut off swiftly. Jimin let his blanket pool around his ankles as he gathered Yoongi’s lips between his own in a soaring kiss. 

The passion almost knocked Yoongi backward, but it was  different now. Twisted up into something new. Regardless, Yoongi cupped his cheeks and deepened the kiss with his tongue.

Despite the elder's qualms, Jimin stripped both he and Yoongi from the waist down and rode him devotedly into the wood.

The image of Jimin above him, mouth agape as the sun haloed his body in white light, was one that would be burnt into Yoongi's retina for years to come. Those gasping whimpers when Yoongi hit it just right. His body tensing and trembling as he spilt thick ropes of cum onto Yoongi's chest.

It was beautiful... ethereal. He  didn't know how anything else could compare.

/

That weekend was the most beautiful of Yoongi's life thus far. He didn't know what Jimin was used to in his world, but for Yoongi, it didn't get better than that. It was beyond a dream. Something he  couldn't even fathom in his  unconscious mind.

And on paper, it was the  simplest of things, shrieking at video game characters, kisses stolen while cooking up a storm. Oil paint wrapping their bodies in rainbows and their canvases lay discarded as they fucked on the floor until the fire dried it all up.

They fucked  a lot that weekend. Too much maybe. To the point Yoongi had to tell Jimin off. The boy by now could barely walk.

Yeah... it was a beautiful weekend to say the least. Fresh air, clean water, sunsets and fire crackers in the dead of the night.

Jimin's sudden  enthusiasm had knocked Yoongi for six. But he clung to it while he had it. Clung to him while he could, his hands barely leaving Jimin's skin. That final night, they danced on the lawn by the lake. Fireworks colouring the heavens and their music crooning from the radio atop the kitchen counter.

The danced real slow, before Jimin pulled his lover into a clumsy waltz. The danced on until morning, until their legs could hardly hold them up.

/

With their cases packed and locked beside them, the  lovers took one more trip to the dock as they waited for the taxi to arrive.

The wings of the sparrowhawk flock, brushed the lakes surface as the took off from the rocks and pushed ripples out into the sunset. Jimin hummed, content as Yoongi wrapped him up snug in his very own coat.

"Thank you..." he  whispered; arms tight around his middle.

"You're welcome." he whispered, his heart hammering inside his chest. "Was it nice? I wanted to give you one last perfect weekend."

"You did! You-" But Jimin's voice wavered and faded away. "Last weekend? What do you mean?"

Yoongi  swallowed his eyes fixed on his toes as Jimin pulled back.

"Yoongi? What do you  mean by 'last'?"

But Yoongi shook his head turned away, not able to bear the truth any longer. Jimin, his hands shaking, was  astonished when he turned him back, and found the elder's cheeks wet with shedding tears. "Y-Yoongi?"

"Jimin-ah..." he breathed. "We both know what  losing me did to you, what  losing you did to your brother in this world." Jimin blinked, and his hands fell away, still trembling. 

"No.  Nonono ! I can't  believe you're doing this now." he scoffed. "Why? Why now!"

"Baby." Yoongi pled. "You need to go back home." 

"I am home." he told him, sharp as a needle and ready to strike. "Home is here with you."

"You need to go back to your brother. You need to go back... to where you really belong." 

"I belong with you, you fucking ass!" he screamed, shoving him back as he  approached ,  pummelling at him weakly as the tightly coiled string snapped. "Why are you doing this! WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU DO THIS TO ME! WHY ARE YOU SAYING THIS! WHY NOW!" 

Angry, Jimin's hits began to gain velocity, but Yoongi restrained him, the younger writhing in his arms as he wrapped him up and they sunk from their feet to their knees on the driftwood. "I'm sorry...I'm sorry..."

"Fuck you." Jimin sobbed, "Fuck you, I hate you."

"I know. It's okay."

But soon, his babbled hate  you's became. "I love you. I love you, why, why when I love you?"

"You know why." Yoongi whispered. "You know, baby."

After that was silence and though he was furious, Jimin was too broken to be anywhere but Yoongi's arms.

The birds that had flown earlier flew together. But just few minutes later and their brother flew too...away in the opposite direction, and any hopes of finding them now were slim.


	9. The Waves Crashed In, They All Tumbled Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which both Jimin and Yoongi have to come to terms with the idea that Jimin might not be there forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again! This story is not finished! There is one more chapter left to go! My AO3 just wont let me take it off Complete. Hope you enjoy! Please read the AN at the end of this chapter! :) <3

Silence followed them the entire way home, and there was so much space between Yoongi and Jimin, the elder was convinced at one point his lover would sink through the  car frame and tumble out onto the streets.

Yoongi didn't push him.

It  would be cruel to prod a wounded creature.

Jimin left Yoongi to carry the bags, as they pulled up with screech outside apartment block. And Yoongi did so without complaint. Allowing Jimin to go ahead and return to their apartment alone.

He found him there moments later, stood in a sway by the little brown piano, his fingers brushing the ivory. The elder dumped their bags by the door and fell onto the sofa with a sigh, his body slumped, his head  buried in his hands.

Jimin turned to him from behind the sofa, watched for a moment as Yoongi readied himself for what he had to give him.

He was so ready to accept his fury. So ready for Jimin to hate him.

He couldn't though. He couldn't do it. He couldn't scream at him.

Because Yoongi was just as broken as he was.

Jimin rounded the sofa, pushed Yoongi's hands from face and climbed up on to his lap... straddling the elder's thighs.

Yoongi blinked up at Jimin under his bangs, and Jimin blinked down through his own. As Jimin wobbled, the elder caught his waist. He held him nice and steady.

And Jimin's hands roamed him, from his shoulders down to his abdomen...he found the button of his jeans, and he worked it out from its buttonhole.

"Jimin..."

His fingers stilled. "Please..." The dancer begged  quietly , lifting his face and pressing his lips to Yoongi's nose. "No words."

Yoongi could do nothing but give in to this man. Powerless as he's always been to his whims. He melted beneath him, and Jimin rode him like he did the first time, only this time he didn't turn away.

He kept his eyes on Yoongi, and if the  elders would flutter shut, he would kiss his lips and coax him back. "Look at me." he'd whisper. "Baby. Look at me."

/

There were legs tangled and their naked bodies pressed together for warmth. Yoongi's front to Jimin's back and the sunset through the sliding door heating them with what remained of the twilight.

Yoongi pressed thankful kisses along Jimin's arm as the younger watched it  disappear behind the  city line .

"I can't go yet..." Jimin whispered, catching Yoongi's roaming fingers and threading them between his own. "I can't leave them, or Hope or you. Not yet. Give me time. Just a little longer."

Yoongi nodded, his thumb caressing the side of Jimin's. "Of course."

/

Jimin quit his post a Seokjin's shop, and when the eldest asked why, Jimin told him. "I still love you Hyung, don't worry."

The younger focused on this life before he took leave for his old one. He focused  particularly; on the people he'd come to love.

One of his new, regular hobbies, was  escorting Hope to her ballet lessons, in order to give Hobi some rest after work.

The teacher recognised him immediately as a local dance celebrity and would ask him to teach Hope and the class at large. And when it came time for little Hope's showcase, he was the one to tie her hair up in a ribbon and he danced as her partner by her side. Her father and Yoofie looked on from the audience, both admittedly a little teary eyed as they piqued and pirouetted through their performance.

After, with their trophy in hand, Yoongi thought he saw a ghost. That woman who stood with his  ex so long ago. But as his eyes adjusted to the dark, he passed it off as  shadow and light, he met his lover, Hope and Hobi at the bus stop with their gold.

The woman in pink came forth from the  shadows , swept up the silky ribbon that had fell like a coil from Hope's hair. She tied it up in a bow on her head, and she smiled affectionately at the scene before her... the cheers and the jubilation only echoed within her own chest and her heart.

/ 

Jimin and Hobi grew closer too, their love for dance  strengthening their bond. One chilly night, after Hobi received the call for a dance audition, they sat by on the slumped sofa and drew up a list of the forty best songs to dance to.

Songs that moved them or made them move. They talked at length as Hope and Yoongi played, and Yoongi beamed up at them as Jimin talked animatedly about songs of their youth. 

"Unca Yoofie?" Hope wondered. 

"Hm?" Yoongi turned back to her dolls a little dazed. "Yeah?"

"Do you love Park Jiminie?" Yoong was shocked by the blatant question. "'Cause you look at Jiminie like Papa looks at Seokjinnie."

"Do I?" Yoongi hummed flicking the end or her ponytail. "I'm not telling. You'll know for sure when you grow up."

Jimin spent the majority of the next two days working on something in town and when Yoongi had asked, he refused to tell him. He presented him with a  cassette tape not long after. One that matched three others belonging Jimin, Hobi and Hope respectively.

The tagline in tiny cursive read: You won't ever dance alone.  Somewhere , somehow, I'll be dancing by your side.

Jimin handed Hobi his tape with Hope's and the elder Jung hugged him so hard he almost crushed his ribcage.

"Aish, Jimine, thank you."

"Thank you too Hyungie, for dancing by my side."

Eventually, Hobi auditioned, and the rest waited at  Gnammy for him to arrive with the result. He burst through the doors to Chaerin's annoyance and spun a  shrieking Hope in circles. "I got it! I got it baby! Papa got the part!"

The six men cheered and left their glasses at the table so as to swaddle Hobi in hugs.

As Yoongi waited for his turn, he thought he saw that woman leave, a flash of baby pink and a fan of dark hair.

He shook his head, shook it from his mind and pulled Hobi into his arms under the downlight.

/

The woman in pink turned her key and the door to Hobi's apartment clicked open. In the shadows she traversed the sitting room and stopped short of the hallway by the pass. Swiping a cassette from the pile of two, she held it like a  new-born babe in her palms.

She smiled down at the cursive, tucked it into her coat pocket and left the abandoned apartment quietly, locking the door nice and snug behind her.

/

"I need you to come with me." Jin breathed, sweeping past Jimin and into the room without another word. Yoongi blinked up at Jin from the piano.

"Hyung?"

"You." he prodded a finger in his direction. "You can come with us."

Yoongi turned back the piano. "I have a lesson tonight."

"I'll cancel it for you." he huffed, Jimin pushing the door shut and appearing at Jin's side with a frown. Yoongi refused to look either of them in the eyes.

"We shouldn't do that." Yoongi sighed, staring blankly at the notes before him. "You'll be fine just the two of you."

Jimin cocked his head, something in Yoongi's tone stirring him. Jin snorted. "I'm about to tell my father I'm moving in with a man... and just as he signed the shop over in my name. I need Jimin to stop me from backing down and you to help me if he snaps. We all know you're the most capable fighter so yes, we need you there, now get up."

He moved over to him, lifting his eldest dongsaeng under his arms to Yoongi's scowls and protests. "Okay! Okay you don't have to manhandle me!" he complained, batting him away. "I'll come."

They drove together, the eldest all a-jitter, with Yoongi reflective and silent in the backseat. Jimin tried not to focus on him, and focus instead on Seokjin as he babbled away about his plans nervously.

It wasn't until Yoongi spoke up that Jimin tore his eyes from the  rear-view mirror.

"Hyung." He sighed. "You'll be fine. Let him rant, the words of an ignorant man should hold very little weight. And if he touches you, I'll step in. Either way, you'll soon be able to start a life with the man you love. Not to mention the most fucking precious little girl.  So, whatever the fuck does happen, just think of them."

Jimin wasn't sure what he felt following those words, he wasn't sure if his heart sank or it melted. It was a prettily painted picture to be sure, but it was one that they could never paint for themselves. Nevertheless, Jin gripped the wheel and exhaled a calming breath, sagging into the leather of his seat. 

"You're right." he admitted, a small smile curving his lips. "For Hobi and for Hope."

/

To say Seokjin was quite plain in his admissions was an  understatement . A gross one. He burst into his father's home office without ceremony and blurted it out before he had a second to think. "I'm in love with a male and I'm moving out."

Seokjin's father, not nearly as handsome as his son, blinked up a Jin over thick rimmed glasses as his eyes narrowed. He clicked his metal pen and set it neatly on his note pad. "I will give you twenty seconds for you to amend that  statement or admit to this being some sort of particularly  humourless joke."

"I don't need twenty seconds." Jin breathed, his eyes despite his fear, brimming with joy. "It's the truth. I'm in love with him and I'm moving out, nothing you or I could say would change that Appa."

His father sighed, elbows on the desk, his hands clasped together. "So," he considered both Yoongi and Jimin with a sneer, and Jimin could physically feel Yoongi's muscles roll, ready for the fight. "Which one of you faggots corrupted my son." 

Yoongi took a step in the elder Kim's direction, but Jin lifted an arm and blocked him. " Oh, don't worry Appa," the elder told him, his tone far too breezy for the situation. "It's neither of these faggots I fell for. He's a different faggot. He's kind, strong, intelligent, moral and he loves his kid above all else. So, I'd doubt you'd have much in common even if you weren't an ignorant, homophobic pig."

Jimin snorted before he could stop himself and old man was on his feet, fury like flames in his eyes. His chair clattered to the floor as he stomped around his desk. Yoongi was  in front of Jin in a blink, but Jin shook his head and pushed Yoongi back to Jimin's side.

"No. .. it's okay." he promised. "Let him have his petulant little tantrum."

"Why you insolent little." The elder pulled back his arm to punch him, but before he could make contact, Jimin was there pushing his Hyung firmly out of  harm's way. The blow landed on him instead, his head snapped to the side and his faux round rimmed glasses clattering across the floorboard.

A noise came from Yoongi's gut so animalistic, that the even the elder Kim in his blind rage flinched. But before anyone else could move, Jin's fist flew and he punched his father so hard in jaw, that they heard the crunch of bone as it snapped.

His father fell backward and was left in a groaning heap on the floor. Jin looked down at his own hands as if they had a mind of their own, even more  surprised than the others were. 

Quickly, he grabbed them by their wrists, and together they ran. They ran hard and breathless until they were half way across the lawn and Jimin and Jin had fallen to the grass in each other's arms. Their s thrown back as they cackled up into the heavens.

Jimin shoved his Hyung playfully, as Yoongi stared down at them from above in shock. "As if you called us faggots you ass!"

"Aish!" Jin giggled. "His face. His face when I punched him. He's gonna sue my ass into next week."

They dissolved into another fit of giggles, they stumbled to their feet and Yoongi shook his head in disbelief, as Jimin took his eldest Hyung by his waist.

They tangoed together down his father's front lawn to the  gates. Overcome with a hysterical type of glee.

Yoongi turned back once and then twice. His stomach in knots as he blinked up and the top middle window.

He was sure he saw her there between the panes. A flash of pink and whip of dark tresses.

But with his Hyung and his lover drifting further from his sight, he turned his back on it all, jogging along the gravel path to keep them close.

/

The woman in pink swept the glasses from the rug, the arms a little bent from the blow. As she smirked at the  frames, she slid them down her little nose and silently she slipped away. Not a soul beside Yoongi aware of her.

/

Namjoon sighed as he swabbed the remainder of the plates dry and he slumped out into the dining area where Hobi, Hope and Jungkook were waiting with Yoongi and Jimin. 

He plonked himself down beside the student, visibly shaking the bench as he did so. Yoongi's teeth clattered against his pint glass. "Ow!" he complained covering his gums with his fingers. "Christ for a reasonable skinny guy, you plod around like a whole ass hippo."

Namjoon shrugged, as his chin dropped to his folded arms on the table. "Seokjinnie always tells me off for it too."

Hope, wriggling in her father's lap, reached across the table and prodded Namjoon's cheeks. "Turn the frown oopsie down."

Kookie physically had to cover his mouth. "I can't deal with her she makes me wanna cry."

"No don't cry Unca Kook!" Hope pouted, scrambling across the table and huddling her tiny body up against Kookie's cotton covered chest. His face all crumpled, he threw his head back in despair. 

"AHHHHHH." 

Hobi chuckled on at them  affectionately , tugging Hope's little tutu skirt down over her butt a little further. "What's got you so droopy Hyung." Jimin chuckled reaching to prod Namjoon's other cheek. 

"It was supposed to be date night." he huffed, "And I got  Taehyungie and I these tickets for this ballet thingy,  'cause he said he always wanted to see one. But then his  professor dropped a  surprise essay on them and I know he's swamped but I miss  himmmmmmm ."

"You saw him two days ago." Yoongi snorted.

"So?"

"Aish..."

"Hey..." Jimin  murmured , shaking Namjoon's arm. "I know I'm not  TaeTae , but I can come with you? At least then, you won't be wasting the tickets?"

Namjoon lifted his head slowly. "Huh... that actually sounds nice..." he straightened a little then. "Does anyone else  wanna come! I'll pay  for the tickets at the door!"

Hobi shook his head as Hope popped up from Jungkookie's chest like a meerkat. "Uh-uh baby girl, maybe another time. You have school in the morning."

"I do too." Kookie pouted, pulling her back into his chest. "We'll get through this together Hopey..."

Namjoon turned to Yoongi then, down at the other end of the bench. "What about you Hyung?"

He blinked setting his glass on the coaster and letting his thumb caress the rim. "Sorry, I can't."

"Why not?" Jimin wondered, his brows all furrowed up. "You don't have any lessons tonight?"

Yoongi shrugged, meeting his eyes only  briefly across the table. "I have some lyrics...I  wanna finish them."

Jimin raised a brow. "What's wrong?"

He shook his head. "Why would there be anything wrong?" Jimin's eyes all narrowed, Yoongi spoke first before he could, taking his hand and pressing a kiss to his knuckles. "Just go...the two of you. Have fun, yeah?"

Jimin let it go, Yoongi's kiss for now, sedative enough. And that night, dressed up a little fancy, he and Namjoon went  together . Namjoon still sleepy from his days work (and both a little tipsy from the wine) was dropping off as soon as his butt hit the seat, mouth agape.

No matter how much Jimin nudged his bicep over a velveteen chair arm, the elder would snore on loud, proud and completely unaware. Before long the two were hysterical, choked out little giggles falling from their lips as the uppity patrons shushed and glared them down.

In the end, too intoxicated to focus on the spotlight, the spins or the spandex, Jimin chuckled and tugged on Namjoon's sweater sleeve. " Let's get out of here, you sound like a damn foghorn,  Hyungie ."

He snorted and together they fled the warmth and light of the theatre, their coats pulled tight  around their necks against the chill of the night. "Aish I'm sorry about this. I just couldn't-" but then Namjoon stopped short. "Oh no!" he groaned. "No, no, no!"

Jimin turned toward where he shot, and blinked down at  Joonie's car under the lamplight. "Is that a clamp?" he  gasped hand skimming the bright yellow contraption.

"I paid for a ticket, what the-" But then he blinked up into the window screen. " Ohhh ... I left it on the seat! Oh, Jimin I'm so-"

But Jimin was already all a-chortle. "Ahhh Hyung! Don't worry! There are some rent-a-bikes just down the road! We'll ride them home! We'll come back for your car later, hm?"

"But I don't think we can ride those bikes that far from here."

Jimin smirked. "What they don't know won't hurt them." 

With a twinkle in his eyes and starlight above him, he took off down the street in a jog. "Hey!" Namjoon called. "Jimin-ah! Wait up!"

So desperate to keep up with  him, Namjoon never noticed the punched theatre ticket that fluttered from his pocket.

And the woman in pink floated in behind him, scooping it up and sliding it into her breast pocket.

/

Yoongi's phone buzzed in his pocket and lit up with Jimin's beautiful face. Pink cheeks, wide smile, sun setting behind him. With his heart already in tatters. He tapped the green button and held the phone up to his ear. "Hello?" he rasped.

"Hey...were you asleep?"

"No," he promised. "What's wrong? Has it finished already?"

"Uh... no, we left early because Namjoonie kept snoring."

"Mm, mkay?"

"But the car got clamped."

"What?"

"Because he forgot to put the ticket on the dashboard."

"Aish." Yoongi rubbed his eyes and sat himself up straight on the sofa. 

"Then we took those electric bike thingies...but we drove them too far and now they  won't move."

"You're fucking insane both of you."

Jimin chuckled through the line. "Yeah... will you call a cab to Granberry Lane? My phone is dying and Joonie’s is gone too. We took too many photos."

"Mmm, yeah...I'll hop in and come get you guys."

"Thank you..."

"Don't mention it."

A pause, one that spoke what words  couldn't . "Yoongi, are you sure you're okay?"

"...I'll see you soon Jimin-ah"

/

As Yoongi pulled up in the cab, he was met with the two bodies huddled on the pavement like  vagabonds . He pushed the door open and rolled his eyes... almost fond behind the mask of contempt. "Get in here you idiots."

They scrambled in beside him, Jimin's arm brushing his as they trundled over the tarmac, but Yoongi kept himself perfectly still the entire journey. Kept himself steady like stone. 

The conversation stopped altogether as they dropped  Joonie off outside his apartment. Neither he, nor Jimin brave enough to break the silence with a stranger just through a  Pyrex window.

The silence only shattered, the tension was only cut, when Yoongi had took Jimin's coat from him at the door. "Are you still cold? Want some of that  peppermint tea or  somethin '?"

Jimin shook his head, as Yoongi hooked his jacket on the coat peg by the door. " No, I'm okay..." 

But he didn't stop there, turning back to him, easing each of his shirt buttons from their holes. Jimin's lashes batted like butterfly wings, casting  shadows over his reddened cheeks. "Yoongi? What..."

Yoongi, finally having opened his  lover's shirt, pushed it down to his elbows and made sure to meet his eyes. "I  wanna suck your dick, baby."

"Y-Yoongi..."

"It's okay if you wanna stop. Tell me if you need me to stop."

"It's not that...it's not that I want you to stop."

"Then  I won't ." he murmured, dropping down to his knees...unclasping and unzipping his fitted slacks. Jimin didn't utter a word as they pooled with underwear at his feet. But when Yoongi hand grasped his shaft and he dragged his tongue from the base to his head, Jimin could barely hold back. "Fuck baby..." he breathed, toes curling inside his socks.

Yoongi kept quiet, sucking him dutifully from half to full mast without breath. His tongue swirling the head, his fingers massaging his balls. And Jimin's forehead was damp with sweat, candyfloss tresses stuck to his forehead as he writhed against the door, gasping and clutching at anything to stay on his feet.

"Yoongi..." he trembled, as the elder met his eyes from below and pull his lips up his shaft nice and slow. Jimin's blown eyes rolled like marbles into his head. "Uhhh!"

Yoongi pulled off with a pop and a hum. He rose up to his feet taking Jimin's arms with a hiccup of  surprise the younger. He lifted his feet from the floor, carried him bridal style to their bed and threw him down onto the mattress with a bounce.

Jimin lay there still and hard, as Yoongi peeled his clothes away fully and got back to work, linking their fingers and enveloping Jimin with his mouth. Jimin trembled and crooned the prettiest sounds as he came, spilling himself in Yoongi's mouth in wild spurts. The elder swallowed around him devotedly, lapping his dick clean as he softened.

"Y-Yoongi... baby," Jimin called, grappling for him, still blind. "Let me..."

But though Yoongi was hard in his pants, his crotch pressed against Jimin's thigh, he shook his head firmly. He leant up and painted a kiss upon his lips. "It's okay baby... just sleep... you must be tired."

"But I wanna- you haven't-"

"It's okay." Yoongi repeated pressing another kiss to his forehead. "I'm fine. You sleep."

As Yoongi settled in behind him, fully clothed and pressed against his back, Jimin had never felt further from him.

/

After Yoongi's little showcase for Seokjinnie's shop, their elder had left to buy the 'thankyou food'. Had left Jimin to silently watch, as Yoongi filled the pregnant pause with his music. 

The spell was broken at the ringing of the bell, and as Kookie entered the store with a boquet of daisies in hand. "Hey," he mumbled, ears pink and his round eyes flitting across the room like moth.

Yoongi took his fingers from the keys and Jimin smirked down at the little boquet from atop the baby grand. "Those for me?"

Kookie was too shy to even roll his eyes. "No, uh...they're mine."

"Aiiiii our baby!" Jimin cooed, hopping down from the piano and squishing his cheeks between his palms. "You're growing up so fast."

"I'm eighteen."

Yoongi laughed a wolfish little laugh. "Who they from? You gonna tell us?"

Kookie's pout didn't  dissipate as Jimin released his cheeks. "That's...  kinda what I came to talk to you guys about... I tried your house but Hobi-Hyung told me you were with  Seokjinnie -Hyung today..."

"And here we are." Jimin cheered, overjoyed by the distraction. " He plonked himself on the piano seat by  the brown piano. "So, talk away."

"Okay uh... promise not to laugh or be mad or-"

"Oh my god." Yoongi groaned. "We're not actually your parents, spit it out. We have your back."

"How do you know when you're ready to have sex with a guy?" he blurted, his cheeks burning crimson. "And like when it happens what does it feel like? Is it really painful the first time? How bad is it? When does it feel better and like..."

"Woah...woah." Yoongi wove a palm in his direction to calm him. "Slow the fuck down. First off who is he."

Jungkook blinked like a lost deer. "Oh... Choi Minguk. He's in my class. We've known each other quite a while and he was always been really kind to me. We sorta just kept hanging out this past month. But one night like a week ago after confessing we were into dudes too, I asked him his type and he said 'You.' and like...we've been kissing and stuff and he's really sweet, but I feel like it's moving so fast. But I'm eighteen you know and I dunno like...I don't wanna rush things and it's my first time and I don't know what I'm doing and he's done it before once and I don't want to let him down..."

The two of them, shocked into silence, mulled it over on their own. It was Yoongi that spoke first, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. "I mean... when it comes to first times, I can't really help. My first  experience was rushed and drunk and pretty shitty... I can't even remember his name." he trailed off when Jimin lay a palm on Yoongi's shoulder.

"Let's just start with basics." the dancer suggested. "If you bottom, it might hurt. It's a sting that will only go away if it's drowned out by pleasure and yes, it does get easier. Always wear protection unless your 100% sure  it's safe, besides wearing it makes the  clean-up easier. I assume you already know about cleaning beforehand?"

Kookie nodded quickly, not able to meet his eyes.

Jimin chuckled. "Good. Protection, lots of lube and who ever tops should take it slow. But that's the physical part and that's easy. So, look at me when I say this because I wish somebody had told me this too before I started." Kookie met his gaze, albeit reluctantly. "Before I met Yoongi, I gave myself to a lot of shitty men, none of which deserved me. As a society we place too much pressure in the loss of virginity, but as men we make the mistake of thinking sex is a purely physical act. It's not  Jungkookie . When you're exposed like that, you're vulnerable. You're the most vulnerable you will ever be whilst awake, so trust is so important. Because sex does something to your heart too, and to how you see yourself. And your heart matters the most.  So, don't ever do it because you feel you have to and don't ever do it if you don't feel one-hundred percent comfortable with the person before you. No matter if they're a spouse or a one-night stand, you never have to yes. Your consent is your power. Remember that."

"But how do I know..." Kookie whispered. "The  difference between butterflies and fear."

"When you love someone, you will know. And it will feel easy."

Yoongi blinked up at Jimin in a sort of awe. Because while that was true when it came to sex, that didn't necessarily apply when it came to rest. When you love  someone, it isn't always easy. But love, real, honest to god, mutual love was always worth it to them. No matter how life pulled them apart.

/

Outside the shop window and in the biting chill of late November, the woman in pink plucked the fallen daisy from the pavement, twiddling it between her forefinger and her thumb. She watched through the fogging glass as Yoongi gazed up at his lover and Jimin took Jungkook into his arms.

As soon as she caught Yoongi's eyes, she was gone, leaving him reeling in more ways than one.

/

Spending time with Taehyung rendered Jimin nostalgic, for period of his life that he'd never  experienced . Spending time with Taehyung was comfortable. Like sitting beside a childhood friend who had become more like brother, someone who knew you better than you knew yourself and whom loved you regardless of your flaws or trespasses.

Drinking with Tae was even more enjoyable because of it. It was like having a second, platonic Yoongi. Each knowing about the dancer, what the other could not and together filling in all of his blank spaces.

The night of Christmas Eve, they took a walk, and Tae being Tae could read Jimin like a book. Whenever Jimin would near the water's edge, Tae would tug him back to his side quickly. And it wasn't until the fourth time he did so that Jimin remembered; Tae had once lost him this way before. A drunken fall into the rush of  a river .

With the night sky reflected in his eyes, Jimin smiled up at his  dongsaeng with the upmost affection. "I won't fall this time." he promised, as Tae clung to him like a limpet crab to  its shell. "You're here to keep me safe, right? You and Yoongi."

Tae nodded, a little bashful now he'd been called out. "Yeah...we won't ever let you go again."

Jimin's lashes fluttered, and he looked out across the river from the promenade. "You know Taehyungie, no matter where I am, or even when I am... I will always be your friend." 

Tae took a quivering breath, and let the truth settle like a stone in his stomach. "... You're leaving."

Jimin's eyes snapped back to Tae, the younger's hair and his scarf waving like flags in the blustering breeze. "Tae, I-"

"When?"

Jimin swallowed, tears burning his eyes like Tae's were. "I don't know."

Tae nodded and without another word, strolled forward to take Jimin in his arms. He held onto him tight, and Jimin held hard back. "I love you Jiminie."

Jimin huffed a half laugh. "Love you too TaeTae."

When the younger finally pulled back, cheeks sticky with drying tears, his brows were lowered and folded together. "Where's your earring gone?"

Jimin frowned, patting down from his ear to his woolly scarf. "Oh...shit..."

But then a voice came from a little down the way; Yoongi, who had been waiting at the ramen vendor for their food. "Yah!" he yelled. "Food's ready! Come quick before it's cold!"

Jimin yelled back. "Okay!"

They strolled back to Yoongi with their hands swinging between them and as they arrived, found Yoongi glaring into the space behind them. "Who was..."

Jimin and Tae eyed each other curiously before turning back to the elder. "Huh?"

He shook his head handing them their cardboard bowls. "Nothing..." he murmured. "Never mind."

/

She pushed chandelier hoop though the wool of her  rosy coat, fastening it there on her chest like a broach. As the three men wandered down pier, warmed by their food and mutual presence, the woman in pink saw them off with an unseen wave.

Her heart was warmed too by the love.

/

Their distance became a tension for Jimin, as time was rapidly running dry. Yoongi was so far and so emotionless, it was almost as if he wasn't there. Every touch was turned into a touch back and not another touch was allowed then for hours. They spoke only of the mundane...and during sex, which was by now was scarce, Yoongi wouldn't let Jimin touch him at all, refusing every time to get off.

It made Jimin feel that he was using him, which in turn was  beginning to bloom into resentment. A resentment that Jimin was trying and failing to push away. He finally caved on the morning of December 26th, when a Yoongi pulled away from a cheek kiss over their boiling tea.

"This is getting ridiculous." he  complain , storming out from around the pass.

"What is?" Yoongi whispered, setting the mugs on the counter and not lifting his eyes to watch him.

"Yoongi for  god sake , just fucking look at me!"

Yoongi turned to him, shoulder tense, and very slowly lifted his gaze. "What?"

"Do you not like me anymore?"

Yoongi's lashes fluttered. And for the first time in nearly a month, Jimin saw a glimmer of emotion there. He rounded the pass and stopped three meters away, behind the sofa. "Of course I like you."

"Then I don't get why you're doing this! Why, why pull away, why now!?"

"Jimin, I just..."

"No!" he cried. "No. Do realise that soon I won't be here? Do you realise how little time I have left to love you? To touch and love and be here with you! I might never see you again and though you supposedly like me too and had no problem with it before, you'll allow me to be touched in this but not you? Why? What did I do wrong? It's not fair Yoongi! Everything between us, especially the physical has  always been born from a mutual desire. So why touch me? Out of some twisted duty? It's like torture! Being so loved and not being able to return it. It makes me feel like some leech draining you of life. It makes me feel like shit Yoongi."

After hearing him out, intent, Yoongi nodded, his eyes fixed firmly on his cold, bare feet. "You're right." he whispered, wringing his fingers like a small child. "I'm sorry."

Then, shocking Jimin stiff, the elder began to shed his clothes. He pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it aside, dropping it somewhere on the wood. He dropped his pants too, pushing them down his thighs with his boxers and stepping out of them naked. Wordlessly, he left, moving around the divider and into their bedroom like a lost child. Trying so hard to find a way home.

Jimin followed on instinct, his eyes wide with surprise and he found Yoongi pushing their clothes aside... crawling tiredly onto their bed. He lay himself out carefully, propped up against the headboard; all spread out. When he and Jimin locked eyes, he forced a smile. "It's okay," he swore. "I'm yours now. You can touch me. Do as you wish, baby boy. I won't touch you this time, unless you ask me to."

Seeing the love of his life lay out like this, vulnerable, displaying himself to Jimin as if he were merely a meat for him devour, Jimin shook his head. And he realised just how much he was asking of this man's emotions. 

He moved toward him, but only to take his hands and pull him upright. He let his hands cup Yoongi's cheeks, let his lips leave a kiss on the elder's forehead, but that was all. 

"When we make love," he reminded him "We make love mutually, because we both want it as much as the other." 

With that, the younger helped Yoongi to his feet, the elder blinking across at him in awe. "Stay here." Jimin requested, before  disappearing into the sitting room and returning with Yoongi's little pile of clothes.

The dancer fell to his knees before Yoongi and  stretched his underwear our  in front of him. "Here..." Jimin urged. "Step in."

Yoongi did, perfectly obedient as Jimin pulled his underwear and his sweatpants back up his body. As Jimin pushed the tee over his head, Yoongi  re-emerged , all tousled and blushing at the tips of his ears. Jimin smiled sheepishly and ruffled his hair back into place. "You need some socks, baby. It's too cold."

But as he approached the dresser, pulled it open and began  rummaging for warmer ones, his waist was cocooned from behind. And Yoongi pressed his forehead to Jimin's shoulder, his hair tickling his neck and wracking his lover's spine in a feild of goosebumps. "I don't need them...the socks." He whispered. "You'll keep me warm, right baby boy?"

There was a pause between, a few moments where Jimin neither spoke nor moved. But eventually,  acclimated to Yoongi's presence, his melted back into his embrace, hugging his arms to his body. It was only then that Yoongi dared to speak.

"I didn't...want to torture myself with the thought of having you at all. I wanted to  practice living as if you were gone. But at the same time, I-I didn't  wanna neglect you. I didn't realise it would torture you too...to not be able to touch me...or-" 

Jimin turned in his arms, pressing his forehead tenderly to his. "Min Yoongi," he sighed. "All these months and you still haven't realised it... that seeing you content is my greatest happiness. But if I was here and in pain..." 

"I  couldn't be content at all..." Yoongi admitted.

Jimin sighed once more, pressing a quick, chaste kiss to Yoongi's lips. "Yes, that. So just... let me love you for as long as possible. Until you can still feel my love even when I'm gone...let me do that for you. For both of us." 

"Jimin, I..." 

"It's okay you don't have to... but it's just what I would like if you-" 

"No. .. I need say something. Just let me say it yeah?" 

Jimin moved back, but not enough to break from the embrace "Okay..." 

"Ever since you came here...everything changed, my life is so damn pretty now because of you. Because you loved me, baby... I have all this. A cosy little apartment. Some stability too, and like...a real job. Because you loved me, others could too, they looked past all the darkness for your sake...and shit Jimin, I owe you everything. I owe you all their kindness. I owe you my life. The only part of me that was worth any love is the part that you instilled within me. All I have and all that I am now, it's thanks to you." 

"That's pretty of you to say baby, but it's not true." 

Yoongi blanched, his heart stuttering in his chest. "It's- but you..." 

"The you that stands before me now was always in there, hidden and masked behind all the pain and the  darkness. The people who love you now, loved you before you ever met me. Besides maybe  Seokjinnie or  Jungkookie but... even they saw the good in you. And it was way before this gentler version of you ever dared to step a toe into the open. I didn't plant any seed or magic bean beneath your heart. I simply coaxed out of you, what you already had within yourself. It was you who took a chance, it was you who let those walls tumble, it was you who finally allowed yourself to be loved. All I ever did, and all they ever did too, was love you as you deserve to be loved." 

His heart set to burst and with the tears threatening to tumble past his bottom lashes, Yoongi kissed him. He gathered those pretty lips and kissed him with such weight of feeling that it left both of them breathless. Jimin tore his lips away to breathe. "You're so powerful baby." he gasped. "You don't even know..."

"God, fuck, shut up before I sob..." the elder choked, eyes screwed shut.

Jimin chuckled against his lips and blotted his tears with his sleeve. "Okay, baby... before you sob."

Their walls of sand were beginning to crumble. But now instead of blinding their tired eyes, the light that broke through cracks, was  beginning to feel a lot like hope.

/

The rest of their time together was short and remarkable. Like a straight country road; valleys of peace and peaks of indescribable joy. Yoongi was barely seen apart from his lover, and every time he moved, Jimin came with him like a magnet. They moved together, finally as one. As natural as the sea flowed or the flowers bloomed in spring. Their love, once a wilted bloom was revived by the light bursting through and they we're thriving under its heavenly glow.

They walked with their brothers  and Hope by their sides, they walked down Market Street with their bellies full and their hearts happy. The market stalls were mostly closed for New Year, but the streets still bustling with music, with scent and with light. The people of Daegu took to the street to dance and Jimin beamed on at them as they passed.

But then Yoongi stopped, Jimin turning back to him, surprised. "Yoongi?"

"Do you wanna dance?"

The others by then stopped too, their gazes flickering between them curiously. "Dance?" Hobi asked, eyes wide as Hope patted him from Jin's arms beside him.

"Papa, I wan' dance!"

"Come on!" Yoongi grinned, taking Jimin by his wrist and pulling him enthusiastically into the crowd. He grabbed a masquerade mask  each from the vendor and fixed Jimin's over his eyes before donning his own.

"You look hot like this." Jimin chuckled.

"I know." Yoongi smirked.

After, as the music rang out across the  Highstreet , he pulled Jimin into a spin and they danced. Yoongi turned him until he was as dizzy from the motion as he was from the love. They danced among the festoon lamps like they were dancing among the stars, with their brothers and Hope all twisting and turning around them. They the sun, the rest the Milkyway. Planets that revolved around them in that moment, pulled like sailors to their light. 

From the darkness the woman in pink watched them move. Watched them laugh, watched them sing, watched them shine.

And she left them be, let the darkness cocoon her, let them have this moment as their own.

Overcome and overwhelmed, Yoongi kissed Jimin without a thought, all covered with dry rice under the splash of the fireworks.

And though people whispered and tutted behind their fans, Yoongi just chuckled and pressed a kiss to his cheek. Right there under the curve of his mask, where his pretty little cheeks flushed tomato red.

Yoongi  knocked back a mouthful of Soju, as a man mumbled nasty words under his breath. But Yoongi turned to him, and with his lips pursed, he sprayed his miserable face with the alcohol.

"Yoongi!" Jimin hissed yanking him back by his wrist, eyes wide with the sudden terror. As commotion started to build, and the man wiped the booze from his eyes, Namjoon shoved the elder off with urgency.

"We need to go!" he urged, as he rounded the others up. They took off in a jog, that soon turned into a sprint. Faster and faster, until they pounding down Mainstreet, a masked family of eight, with joy in their hearts and a crow of angry  shrieks to follow them.

They got back to their block in record time, tumbling up the stair case together. And when they reached their floor, the lovers collapsed together, overcome by a flurry of giggles.

Jin huffed, tearing his mask away. "Are you crazy! You could have been lynched!"

But that only served to make them laugh harder. Throwing back their  heads , collapsing against the wall as clung to each other.

"I think they finally lost it." Jungkookie hummed.

"Yep..." Tae supplied with a pop. "Totally snapped and gone strange."

But the giggles began to subside, and. .. nose to nose, the mirth bled into a smoke, their eyes darkened, their pupils  dilated . Gazes flickered from eyes to the bow of their lips.

Hobi's eyes widened, as the realisation swept over his expression. "Oh, well, will you look at the time? Hope you should really have a snack."

"But Papa I only just-"

"Seokjinnie will come!" Hobi promised, tugging her swiftly as he slid his key into the lock. "Won't you handsome?" 

"Yes of course!" he choked a little too brightly. They quickly  disappeared into his apartment.

"And-and me and Taehyung have some  business to get along with!" Namjoon stuttered pulling a shell-shocked Taehyung toward the stairs.

They had just  disappeared around the corner when Tae popped his head back up. " Jungkookie -ah, come here!" he growled.

Kookie blinked blankly back at him. "But-"

Tae groaned and stomped back up the steps, yanking Kookie down the winding  stair case with him. 

The fire door slammed shut at the very bottom and the lovers were left in silence. The atmosphere was electric and each touch was a spark that lit fires from top to toe. Their lashes fluttered and brushed the other's, Yoongi with one hand at his waist and the other cupping his jaw.

His thumb traced Jimin's plush bottom lip as the younger's eyes rolled back into his skull. "Baby..." he breathed.

Yoongi smiled. "I know."

Yoongi dug deep into his pocket for the key and opened the door without breaking eye contact. As if he already knew, Jimin wrapped his arms around his neck, and hopped up with his legs wrapped tight around his  lover's waist.

Yoongi held him firm and backed him into the room, the door falling shut with a gentle click behind them.

/

Long fingers raked the expanse of Jimin's back, from the back of his neck to the dip of his spine. The smaller shivered as skin touched skin, as Yoongi's lips followed the trail down kiss by pretty kiss. He sighed softly in return, the birds singing, the sun slug low. The morning was here and it was bright one. 

Yoongi lifted his body so Jimin could turn, the younger rolling onto his back to face him. "Good morning, my angel."

For once, Yoongi couldn't scoff. There was such a reverence laced in Jimin's features that he could neither tease nor deny.  So, he simply brushed a kiss upon those sleep warm lips, nuzzled their noses and watched him smile.

"I love you..." Jimin whispered, eyes alight. But before Yoongi could answer, he kissed him too. "Take me..." he pleaded against his lips. "I want you."

They remained that way the rest of the day, fucking each other slow over the counter, the piano, the  apple crate table. They wouldn't even part when it came time to shower, Yoongi fucking Jimin sweetly against the tile.

Though they try to hold on, string it out with long, drawn out thrusts, they'd always end up in a frenzy. They'd always end with  crescent moon nail marks pressed into in smooth, supple skin. With trembling thighs and bitten lip, their eyes rolling back into their heads. 

Until the stars sparkled up on that wash of sapphire blue and Yoongi was  too weak to hold himself up. Until he was struggling to keep his eyes open, his body quivering like a leaf.

"M's-sorry baby I can't-"

Jimin shook his head, tears sparkling at the corners of his eyes. He swept his sweaty hair from Yoongi's eyeline, revealing two  crystalline tears on his lover's paper white cheeks. "It's okay." he murmured, brushing the tears away. "You're okay baby." 

Yoongi lifted his forehead from Jimin's chest and his eyes told Jimin everything he needed to know. "Jimin-ah..."

"I love you too." Jimin, now quite at peace kissed his angel's face. A kiss here, a kiss there. "I love you too. I love you. My beautiful angel Min Yoongi." he pressed one more kiss to his sweaty forehead, and tucked the elder into his neck to sleep.

Yoongi took in all he could before slumber could pull him under; the sweet fruity scent of his body wash, the silky suppleness of his skin, that rhythmic beat of his heart and taste of his lips still on his tongue. His thumb caressed the name of his song, scripted beautifully along his lover's precious ribs, and he fell asleep as he fell in love; all at once and much too quickly. 

/

As sun smiled down upon the horizon, the world still silent, Yoongi still sleeping, Park Jimin slipped out from under his lover with a press of his lips to his cheek. He dressed simply that morning... in Yoongi’s emerald sweatshirt, leaving his own striped one behind.

He took with him Yoongi's journal and scribbled a note on the sofa where they first kissed. He left it open atop the brown piano, beside Mrs Min's sculptures- Time and My World. Then, open for what was to come, he slid into the bench... he closed his eyes, the first few notes of their Fantasie Impromptu falling from his finger as if by magic. 

The melody, it lulled him to sleep and behind him the sun spangled,  drowning the amber-eyed angel out with its light. 

"Somang?" he breathed, his final words.

Then, as the sun rose higher, the spangle was gone and Jimin...he was gone along with it.

/

Yoongi woke to an empty heart and cold bed. If he'd let himself admit it, he already knew that he was gone.

But he held on to his last shred of hope, dressed in his jeans and striped sweater. When he wandered into the living area, he was  alone, just his journal and note left on the piano.

His fingers brushed the words, as bile rose in his throat.

_ "My Yoongi, _

_ Whether I love you here or in another place and time, I will always... I will always love you. And when you look up at the sky and you see the moon, know I'm looking up a it too. That I'm thinking of you. _

_ That I'm loving you. _

_ I love you so much Yoongi.  _

_ Yours forever, _

_ Jimin. xxxxxxx"  _

Yoongi nodded, to no one really, and let his journal fall shut before he threw it. It struck a succulent, the smash of its pink pot echoing along with his  grief-stricken scream. Tears were falling thick and fast, blurring his vision and rimming his eyes red. He tore open the front door just as Hobi did his.

"Yoongi are you- I heard you scream..." But Yoongi was already past him, falling and stumbling down the stairs, blind to anything but a searing emotional pain that felt  visceral . "Yoongi?"

"Hobi-ah?" Jin called. "What's happening?"

"Stay with Hope? Please?" he begged sliding on his flip flops and darting down after his Hyung, leaving his lover with raised brows and widened eyes.

He discovered the elder as Yoongi fell to his knees in the courtyard, and he lowered himself down to a crouch behind him. He held Yoongi against his chest. An anchor for the elder as he sobbed. "Yoongi...Hyung...shit." Yoongi choked on yet another sob, his hands clutching at the younger's arms. "What is it? Where's Jiminie? What happened to-"

"Fuck I love him. I loved him Hobi-ah. I loved him so fucking muh-much."

"Hyung I..."

"Fuck. My baby, he was my baby. He was my baby." 

Not able to pull the truth out from his words and with Yoongi near incoherent as he spoke, Hobi simply scooped him up tighter in arms. And they rode the rocky waves together, until he was able to pull Yoongi at least back to shore.

/

Hobi deflated, and he watched as Hope and Jin giggled on the rug in the sitting room. "I don't understand." he whispered over his cup of lemon tea. "He seemed so happy, why would he leave like that if he was so-"

"Because I told him to." Yoongi drawled, eyes heavy with emotion. "Because he needed to." 

With the elder so lost in his grief, Hobi decided it best not to push. But to let him feel and to come to him when he felt it was right. Hobi's eyes however, were caught when Hope started swinging the Wii remote like baton, near missing his lover's nose. "Jung Somang! Don't you hurt Seokjinnie's handsome face!" 

Unbeknownst to Hobi, Yoongi had stiffened beside him. "Sorry Papa!" Hope giggled and when Hobi turned back, Yoongi was blinking up at him, white faced. 

"Uh- Hyung?"

"What...what did you just call her?"

"Oh..." Hobi chuckled, "I guess you never really hear me call her that... I always love to call her Hope instead. Somang is just her Korean name. It means Hope too! Did I never tell you that? Yah, I'm so-"

But Yoongi's mind was racing. Magic spells, pianos, time travel, witches. 

_ "I sought the help of a witch called  _ _ Somang _ _. I even turned to magic. Our friends  _ _ Chanyeol _ _ and Baekhyun, they thought I'd finally lost it. She came to my home and went straight for the piano. The little brown piano on  _ _ the left _ _ - _ _ hand side _ _." _

Yoongi set his cup shakily aside and moved off like a ghost before he Hobi you even blink. "Hyung?"

_ "...against all odds I'm here, right?"  _

"Hyung?" Yoongi was shaken from his reverie by Hobi's palm on his shoulder. "What is it? What  just happened?"

The elder turned to him pale as the moon, but he closed his eyes... composed himself. "It's okay, I just need some quiet time." But Hobi's eyes shook from the concern. Heart pounding like a drum in his chest, Yoongi pulled the door open "Hobi, I mean it I'm okay. I promise you just... I'll be back soon okay? I need to sleep it off." 

With a nod, Hobi let him go and soon Yoongi, he arrived at his apartment. His hand poised shakily at the handle. He took a breath and burst into the room, to find the woman in pink waiting for him by the piano.

Ribbon around her bun, flower in her hair, the earring pinned like a broach to her dress. And as she turned to him her hair flew like a fan, the theatre ticked twirled in her fingers like a baton. The round rimmed glasses perched upon her dainty little nose, she pushed them up her nose to rest comfortably. The woman she smiled up at him with that same heart shaped smile, as Jimin's  cassette played something soft for them on the stereo.

As the door fell shut, Yoongi's heart, it stuttered and her pink heels clicked as she rose to her feet. As she swept across the  apartment toward him. With the most tender of smiles she spoke at last. "Hi, Unca  Yoofie . I'm sorry I broke in."

Yoongi swallowed the lump in his throat. "...Hope?"


	10. We Saw The Stars Once More.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which time stands still and starts again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This Chapter is dedicated to my boop PinkJinPls and my wonderful DartedRose. You both support and cheer me on so well! <3

Without a word that could make any sense of it, Yoongi went with. "How-how did you get in here?"

The elder Hope wiggled the key that dangled from her necklace and quite casually supplied the answer. "I stole it." she chuckled. "In your future, and in my past..."

Yoongi was silent, not daring to move, to blink or to breathe. "Is it really you?" he whispered. "It can't be."

She smiled an all too familiar smile. "Ask me something. Something only I could know."

Yoongi blinked, finally, looking out upon the afternoon sky lost in the memories.

"When you had a nightmare, that time your father first had to leave you with me. What was the nightmare?"

Hope smiled, her thumb smoothing the ticket in her palm. "That Daddy was crying, but I couldn't speak to comfort him."

"And what did I say to-"

"You told me if I was unable to speak, then you would care for him, the best you could."

And finally, Yoongi allowed himself to believe... to breathe. "Oh my god."

"I know..."

"You're S-Somang. Hopey, you were the reason he-"

"Yes..."

"Why? How-how did you...how are you-"

"Ah, Uncle...please breathe." she soothed. "We should sit down, come, come and sit?"

Yoongi did so, allowing Hope to coax him to the old sofa while she sat, quiet at home on the new. 

"I think..." she considered her options. "That we should start at the  beginning huh? Before I found Park Jimin. To the time line in which you grew too sad."

"I..."

"It's okay...you survived. But that was about it. And it hurt to watch you..." her lips pushed out in a pout. Ah, there's the Hope I know.

"My mother...I met her often."

Yoongi blinked. "But, how...you never knew her?"

"Not until I was eleven. And my powers began to grow. I would see so clearly in my dreams, the times I hadn't been alive to witness. My parent's love story, your childhood. I also saw Jimin, though I didn't know his name...suspecting my powers would someday grow, my mother would meet me  occasionally after school. We would talk, she gained my trust and finally, on the day of my sixteenth birthday, she revealed why she could not be there to see me grow." she took a deep breath, smoothing out her pale pink skirt. "She was a time traveller, just as I am. Only she did not belong to this world. This timeline, this thread. She stayed only, because she fell for Jung Hoseok. She would soon discover, just as I think you knew too, that you cannot remain in a different time line for long... before you begin to fade away."

Yoongi's lashes fluttered, his chest tight. "So Jimin-ah, if he stayed  here, he might of..."

"Yes, that... iteration of him could have been gone forever. Stripped from time."

"Shit..."

Hope nodded. "That is why Mama had to leave us. It's why she had to go, she couldn't stand the thought, of letting us love her, and then leaving us and breaking our hearts. Ironically, she thought if she left, my father would hate her. All it made him do was miss her. He would have gone on like that forever...if it wasn't for-"

"Jimin... then Seokjin."

"And you." Yoongi lifted his gaze and their eyes met. "You always did forget your own existence, the part you played in these things."

His head dipped back down and she carried on. "There were ways that I could work on my father's happiness myself,  without such supernatural means and ends. But you were...much more stubborn." she chuckled. Yoongi too huffed a laughed, playing with his own fingers subconsciously. 

"Eunwoo was my first attempt..." Yoongi's head shot up. "He was a sweet boy but too shy and not nearly tenacious enough to handle you."

"He was there..." he breathed. "Shit, I thought I was  losing my mind...seeing a dead man."

Hope laughed, a pretty sound like a singing bird and shook her head. "No, but he was too in love the leave this time, in that...he was stubborn...he took some convincing."

Yoongi hung his head in shame, his fringe  shadowing his eyes. "I really fucking hurt him Hope...I-"

"It wasn't your fault, that you couldn't love him." she assured. "I sent him back to his time line...he is happy now with a new man."

Something about that was soothing, Yoongi felt a crushing weight be lifted from his shoulders. "Good. I'm glad for him,"

"In the end," Hope murmured rising up from her seat and taking the framed photo from the piano top. Her lips curved  up; her expression softened like melted snow. "The only one who could save you was Park Jimin."

"Jimin..." Yoongi muttered, as if he were still lost in a dream. "Jimin-ah..."

"He was the only one." she promised. "The only man who would be able to change your mind without out changing your essence, who could scare you but love you well enough in equal measure. He was the only one. He's-"

"An amber eyed-angel."

Hope breathed a laugh, setting their smiling faces back upon the wood. "Exactly that."

A quiet followed her words and Hope sat back against the piano, letting her Uncle process, there were a thousand questions that would have to remain unanswered, but his first one of course, was for Jimin.

"Have you been back there? To his timeline?"

She smirked. "I mean technically forward but, yeah... I have."

"Is he okay...is he-"

"Aish, breathe." she laughed. "He's good, I promise you. He just misses you. He misses you  every day . But he has great friends and he's happy... his disappearance scared his family near to death. The reconciled, and Jihyun sees his big brother every weekend. He's content, he is...he just really misses you."

Yoongi smiled hands clasped in his lap, he looked back out upon the skyline. Where had the day gone. The sun was already starting to set. "I wonder who he misses more... this me or his first."

"Neither..." she hummed, the single word both soothing him and piquing his curiosity. "He misses neither more or less than the other." But with his eyes moving away, and the elder still seemingly unconvinced, she knew he would need more than that to be at peace. "I've travelled through so many time lines,  Yoofie-Samchon . The one thing I gathered above all else, is that the very fabric of our souls rarely changes despite the world around us. Your spirit may be broken, your heart ground to dust and your mind lost to the wind, but our souls remain just as they were before. Thats why they call them 'soulmates'. Soulmates, no matter which way their heart bends them, are destined to find each other. It's the invisible string of fate. If one is pulled away, the other will follow. And they may end up friends, family or lovers but in the end, no passage of time can keep them apart for long. The rivers will always run back to the sea. You and  Jiminie ...you were  different . You weren't tethered by a string but by a steel wire. You bond isn't only beautiful enough for the two of you, it spills out of yourselves and weaves through the hearts and minds of anyone pure enough to listen. You will always find your way back home. And while your homes are lain squarely within each other, you are the seeds from which the happiness of other's will grow."

Yoongi looked back from the  view , his expression very much unchanged. "What are you trying to tell me Jung Hopie..."

"Your music comes from your soul, Samchonnie. Your song, like his dance are your water ways. This piano will help you find your way." she patted the old wood and she pushed herself away. Her words seemed so final in their tone, that Yoongi found his heart racing like the sands of time, each grain shred was saturated in a daunting anticipation. She was leaving him. "Hope." he croaked stumbling to his feet.

She stopped, back lit by the twilight, all her edges smoothed out. "Yes?"

"Don't go" he begged. "Stay. I need you here."

"You have me here already."

"But, Hopey, I-"

"Unca Yoofie..." she hummed, her eyes all sugary with nostalgia. "This is the you that helped shape me into the woman I am. Who kept my father on his feet and saved us both from the streets. I will always be watching over you."

As the sun fell from the sky, the  clementine light spangled and drowned her out, just like Jimin before her, she left in silence, and Yoongi blinded by the sun, was alone when he took his arm from his eyes.

/

That night, Yoongi swept the photo frame from the piano top. Without taking his eyes from their faces, he shuffled from the sitting room to what used to be their bed, setting the frame on his rickey bedside table and rolling with a heavy heart onto his back.

He blinked up at the  ceiling listlessly, eyes tracing each scratch and damp patch. And each time he blinked he saw angels.

He saw Jimin's face, smiling down upon him. 

Rolling his neck to the side, his gaze passed from his own frozen face to Jimin's, the younger lighting the dark room like the moon lit the night sky. He didn't take his eyes of that loving light until sleep pulled him helplessly under.

/

As Yoongi took the cigarette from his lips, the smoke billowed out onto the fire escape from the crack in the window. The net curtains were Jimin's idea, they waved like a silken flag from the window that frosty morning and Yoongi let the ends flutter against his  fingertips , imagining that they were Jimin's lips.

He shook his head, snapping his arm back and stubbing his cig on the brick before posting it onto the fire escape

These walls were too laced with Park Jimin, his presence still lingered and it was overwhelming. Yoongi pushed window shut, threw his leather jacket over his shirt and dashed out of the door before the gloom had a chance to consume him, but... he was stopped.

Stuck still staring at Hoseok's door, knowing the girl who would save him was behind that barrier. Not yet knowing what she could become.

Before he knew it, he was rapping on the wood, and Hobi's expression at once brightened and then crumpled into concern. "Hyungie! Are...how are you feeling? Have you-"

"Unca Yoofie!"

Yoongi's lashes batted as he turned his gaze down to Hobi's hip. Hope pushed her way  through the gap, a messy  piece of card in hand. "Hey..." he rasped, honey in his eyes. "Hey, Hopie."

"I made you this!  So, you can have  Jiminie with you."

Yoongi crouched before her, and with a tender expression took the painting from her hands. He looked down upon two wobbly men, on with a crop of black hair and one with a mop of pink. They held hands and were surrounded by  six-point stars; the sweetness of it had Yoongi gathering Hope into his hold and cradling her there against his chest like a new-born baby. 

"Thank you..." he breathed, his voice trembling with every syllable. "...for everything."

/

Over the coming weeks, love flowed from Yoongi like air. It seemed to be the new natural for him to say a do the most loving things. A hug here, tender words of  encouragement there. All of his past chill had seemed to dissipate as March rolled around and the shoots pushed up through the Earth. 

A new life was coming. And his six brothers sat stunned around Hobi's breakfast bar as Hope slept soundly in her room. "Jiminie really changed him..." Kookie murmured. "He really left an impression."

"It's not a bad thing." Joonie considered. "It's just..."

"Riddled with sadness." Jin completed with a nod, brushing his hair from his face as he set the tea towel aside.

"Maybe it's because his birthday is soon." Tae  hummed; his head tilted. "Maybe he wished he was here for it."

"His birthday." Hobi's brows shot up. "He was born in March?"

"Mhm! The 9th."

"Aish!"  Jin groaned. "That's  tomorrow ! None of us knew!"

"He  doesn't like a fuss anyway." Kookie pointed out. "Maybe we should just pretend we don't-"

"Nope." Hobi cut in. "We're doing something. We got the whole day to figure something out!"

"It should be simple, something that just gets him out the house." Joonie reminded them. "Let's not go overboard. It could overwhelm him. Does anyone have any ideas?"

For a while the tapping of fingers and a round of inquisitive hums, was all that filled the room. It was Hobi that spoke at last. "I might know a place."

/

"You're being unusually compliant today." Seokjin murmured as Kookie tied the blindfold in a rough double knot at the back of Yoongi's head. 

"It's not my first time in a blindfold."

"Huh?" 

Yoongi snickered as Jin covered Kook's precious ears. "Aish!" Hobi nudged him. "My little girl is here somewhere."

"I meant for blind-minds bluff!" he teased. 

"Of course you did, Hyungie." Joonie rolled his eyes, affectionately. It was then Hope toddled through and tugged her blinded Uncles hand. "Unca Yoofie! Imma take care of you."

"Cousin Yoofie me too!" Tae cooed, going for his other hand, and though he snorted, he let Tae take it. He and Hope led Yoongi down the winding staircase and into a car that smelt like Seokjin's aftershave.

The drive wherever was short and the air felt familiar when he arrived. He was pulled out of the car  clumsily and almost fell before Kookie caught him. The scraping metal of an opening door started finally to clue him in and after they had him in the centre of the room, he'd already guessed were they were.

Jin pulled the knot and let the blindfold fall.

Of course...

Yoongi let the smile warm his face with the paper lanterns. It was his mother's old warehouse...but it  wasn't . It was full of love and light as before, only now the love was an adult kind love. One between a man and his chosen family.

"It's beautiful." he whispered finally, taking his brother's off their tenterhooks. Hope giggled and hugged him at his knees. 

"Happy Burtday Yoofie!" 

Yoongi chuckled and pulled her up into his arms. "Thank you, Hopie."

He let his eyes scan the room quickly. The pile of blankets and cushions, the balloons and pale paper decorations. Then he turned back to the others and let his lips push his cheeks upward. "Really, thank you. This is..." he turned back to their little creation... the  radio , set on the piano, filling the silence. "It's perfect, really."

"I was gonna bring food from Gnammy." Namjoon admitted. "But Chaerin caught me tryna lift it and so, we thought we'd order pizza instead."

Yoongi nodded, not really listening to any of them, but staring at the spot where the twilight bled through, a spotlight in the centre of the room catching dust like fireflies. That spot in which Jimin had danced, on the night he knew he was in love.

/

Yoongi swirled the Soju in his paper cup as he and Jin sat shoulder to shoulder and waited by the door for the pizza to arrive. "How did you know." Yoongi murmured breaking the comfortable silence. "That this was exactly what I needed."

Jin hummed braiding the balloon string in  preparation for Hope's hair  tomorrow , a new skill he'd taken up since moving in. "You have Hobi to thank. He organised everything, the rest of us were just his faithful workers."

"Hobi?"

Jin nodded finishing the braid with a knot. "Yup."

Yoongi felt the warmth of affection flood his heart. "Hyung, are you okay waiting here alone?"

Jin snort and elbowed him playfully. "Abandonment." Yoongi knew he was joking but he swallowed the lump in his throat. "It's okay...go."

Hobi was waiting at the edge of the blanket pile, pouring himself some soda and chortling to himself under his breath. He smiled up at Yoongi as he  shadowed his face. "Hey Hyung. Come sit."

Yoongi smiled shyly and plopped himself down next to the younger as they watched the youngest four play their hand of cards. Hope was (not so miraculously) winning. "Thank you, for all this." Yoongi murmured, playing with laces on his boots.

"Huh?" Hobi's lips hovered above his cup.

"Hyung told me this was all because of you."

Hobi's ears burned  rosy . "Aish, he thinks too well of me. The rest did all the hard work."

"That's probably not true." Yoongi sighed. "You need to start giving yourself the same love we all feel when we look at you."

Unable to form a response, and a little taken aback, Hobi just nodded. "Thank you."

"You were the one person I always knew I respected. You're a good man and an even better father-" 

"You helped." 

"Fuck that, money aint shit." Yoongi cut in quickly. "What you do is so much harder. And you will never know how grateful I am for you and your little girl." With his words all frayed and quivering like a final note, Hobi felt his heart swell in his chest.

"Hyung..." 

"No, I mean it, I love you." 

"Yah!  What's this!" he chuckled; his eyes brighter than the lantern lights. But when Yoongi shrugged the younger pulled him in and hugged him too his side "Ah...I'm grateful too. I'm grateful for you."

/

The ash had only burnt half way down his cigarette when Kookie had come shuffling out the fire escape wearing a sheepish smile. Before he opened his mouth, Yoongi had clocked him. "They sent you out to spy on me, hm?" 

The younger nodded, dipping his head low. "Uh, yeah...sorry.  I guess they just worry."

Yoongi's eyes glistened like  water in the dark and he took  another drag. "They shouldn't," he sighed. "I told him to go. I'm fine." 

"You didn't go with him...why-" 

"Are you?" 

The maknae blinked. "Huh?" 

"Are you fine?" Yoongi clarified. "Have them boys given you any more trouble?"

Kookie smirked, eyes up to the stars in wonder. "Oh... no. You scared them real well." 

"Good. Now make me a promise." Yoongi demanded pushing his back from the wall. 

"O-kay?" 

"Never let anyone put their hands on you like that again. I don't care who your damn father is, your ours now too. Next time they touch you, used that judo shit and scare the shit out of them." 

"Okay." he agreed.

"You promise me that?"

"I promise." 

Yoongi stubbed his cig on the wall and tossed it aside. "Now come here." he murmured opening his arms in  invitation . Jungkook went to him faithfully and Yoongi wrapped him in a tight hug. They swayed together with the breeze. 

"Love you, Hyung." 

"Love you too." Yoongi breathed into the near silence.

/

"Spread your hands out wider." Yoongi murmured as Namjoon fumbled another note. The younger did so and his fingers pressed down on the ivories coaxing the correct chord from the wood. "See?"

Namjoon beamed, his cheeks dimpling and his eyes squished into thin lines. "Ah. You are a good teacher."

Yoongi let the compliment fly without protest or  acknowledgment . "Okay...time to jump from chord to chord. Try not to think too much, just let your hands move."

Joonie tried, he really did, but he messed up on the fourth chord. "Aish! I'm too clumsy, Hyung."

Yoongi snorted. "Yeah, you always were at work too."

"Hey!" Namjoon complained, crossing his arms over his chest.

"But you're clever." Yoongi admitted. "Really fucking clever. You deserve better than that place." 

"Oh..." the younger unfolded his arms. "Thank you." A pause followed and Yoongi found himself turning away, shallowly paddling in his shame. 

"I wasn't good to you." 

"Aish... you need to stop apologising for all that." 

"I wish I'd got my head out my ass earlier. I wish I just gave in and let you in." Yoongi closed his eyes in an attempt to shake away the nerves and just... speak. "I feel like when I'm with you, we could put the world to rights together." 

"Me too Hyung..." 

"I'd trust nobody else with Taehyung... nobody. I only trust you." 

Joonie's eyes melted like sugar in tea. "Yeah...I really love him."

"You do." he  nodded; hands clasped in his lap. "He was someone else I mistreated..."

"Hyung..." 

"But I love you both quite well now, right?" 

Namjoon nodded, a little overwhelmed. There was a shimmer in his eyes and Yoongi knew he suspected. "Of course. You're too good to us sometimes." 

"That's not possible..." he squeezed the younger's shoulder and let the tension crumble away. "Okay... find the C" 

They played on and Yoongi didn't give up on him. Not 'til he hit all of those chords, and they made art together.

/

With the pizzas  sufficiently demolished, the two eldest took it upon themselves to clear the way for dancing, scooping all the carboard into trash bags and hauling them out to the nearby dumpster.

"Well this is a long way from where I came from."  Jin chuckled tossing his first bag into the  receptacle . "Here, pass me the other."

Yoongi passed it over, eyeing the handsome elder's profile in the moonlight. "Did you regret it ever? Leaving it all behind." 

Jin shook his head. "Not at all. I've never been happier."

Yoongi nodded passing him the empty soda and soju bottles. "You're good with Hope...you're a natural father." 

"Yeah?" Jin's eyes sparkled as he turned toward him. "I've always wondered that. If I was good at it."

"Mm, I couldn't think of anyone better for them than you. Come to think of it..." he scuffed his feet against the pavement. "I couldn't ask for a better Hyung either." 

The elder turned to him, wary. "...you not gonna propose to me, are you?"

"Aish."

"Because you're very handsome Yoongi and so am  I, but I belong to-" 

Yoongi snorted and pulled the elder into a surprisingly warm hug. "Come here you idiot." 

"Oh...you're drunk?" 

" No, you ass, I'm being nice." 

Jin hummed, bemused, wrapping his arms around the younger and squeezing him back. "Why?" 

"Because you make me smile." 

"Oh, then  that's okay." 

Yoongi chuckled. "Idiot." he repeated 

"Love you too."

As they pulled back, Jin's expression hardened and his stance became stern. "You okay? I mean really, are you?" 

"Never better." Yoongi murmured as the elder used his sleeve to smudge the pizza sauce from his pale cheek.

/

"Tae. I can't dance you know that." Yoongi protested as the younger attempted to tug him to his feet. 

"I know nothing!" 

"That's true."

Tae let go of his hands and Yoongi dropped with an 'oof' to his butt. "You know what I mean! I've never even seen you dance before in my life."

"You don't need to."

"Is..." Tae's face was  shadowed under the back light. A softened silhouette bathed in light just like- "Is it because I'm not...Jimin?"

His name rang out like a gong, echoing through the empty passage ways of his heart. He took a breath and let the air fill them instead. "No." he told him, his head dipped, his bangs like curtains across his eyes. "It's because I can't dance."

Tae rolled his eyes at his words. "Aish,  that's no excuse.  Namjoonie isn't a dancer either." 

Namjoon, who had been lost in his piano practice, turned,  affronted . "Hey!"

"I love you my sweet darling, but you can barely walk to a beat."

The taller huffed in defeat and turned back to the keys. "As long as you love me..." he  conceded . 

"I'll still love you t-too...when...when you..." Tae was caught off  guard by Yoongi's expression, but as quickly as it was seen, it scuttled away. It bled back to a blank mask. "Hyung? Are  you sad abo-"

"Okay...I'll dance with you."

"Huh?" 

Yoongi held up his hands. "Help me up."

The younger pulled him to his feet until he was steady, then it was Yoongi that took him to the dance floor, Hope and Hobi, Jin and Jungkook rocking together nearby to a ballad. Yoongi pulled his cousin into dance position quite naturally and he chuckled when the younger blinked up at him, astonished.

"You think I didn't watch your dance lessons."

"Ahhh!" Tae complained, pink cheeked as memory flooded his mind. They started to sway and on the fourth count, Yoongi spun his cousin out. He pulled him back in to a questionable frown. "Liar. You've done it before."

"Mm. Once or twice with  Jiminie ..." his eyes glazed over, like two marbles rolling back into the currents of the past. He moved as a robot then, his gaze empty and averted. And there was a wobble in his lips, completely  unnoticeable had he been a centimetre further from him.

Tae stopped them mid-turn, and Yoongi blinked down at him as if he'd prodded him awake. "Why'd you-"

"What's wrong, Hyung?"

Yoongi's gate wavered. But he seemed to decide against a lie. "I feel bad."

Tae gripped either shoulder. "Why?"

"Because...when we we're growing up-" 

"No." Tae shook his head before his Hyung could spiral. "When we we're growing up, you were made to feel worthless in  comparison to me. It's only natural that you'd resent me after a while." 

"But you were never cruel to me. In fact, you were endlessly and stubbornly kind, you never gave in." 

"No. I didn't." 

"Why? It would have been so easy for you." 

Tae's pretty,  smoky eyes fluttered and he cocked his head in thought. "When you first came to us, before they had a chance to make you feel so sad, you were so lovely to me Hyung. You taught me the piano, played with me, you cleaned my grazes and you made me feel safe. I knew you had it all in you. I wanted that back. I wanted you just as you wanted your piano. Like a child wanted his plushie. You were my anchor." 

Yoongi took a shaky breath "You know what's ironic." he huffed "Nowadays, I'd give that piano to the sea to see you happy." 

The younger's bottom lip pushed out into a pout. "Ouch...my heart..." he swooned and he feigned a faint, leaving the elder to catch him.

"Yah, stupid..."

He chuckled and straightened up, but as he did, Yoongi's expression changed. Flushed of much of his colour. "Tae..."

"Yes?"

"Is. .. would you be okay if I-"

"You're leaving too,  aren't you?" he sighed, pressing his lips together to keep his jaw from trembling. He met his eyes. "Aren't you?"

Yoongi nodded, his eyes pooling like two lakes under the midnight blue. "I think I am." 

Tae slumped, but not so much in defeat as in acceptance. "If you're happy, I'll be okay." 

"I really do love you." Yoongi almost begged, his eyes wide and the tears caught on his bottom lashes 

Tae eyes burned and he sniffled, pulling Yoongi into the tightest hug. "Ah! I've had too much soju for this." Yoongi chuckled into his cousin's shoulder and rubbed soothing circles into his upper back "I love you too, Hyungie... just go... be happy."

Yoongi's arms held him tight. He pushed and back him together. "Stay strong..." he murmured. "Like I know you are."

/

Yoongi smiled down at Hope as her father tried to rouse her from within the pile of pillows and blankets. "Hey..." Yoongi whispered, nudging his dongsaeng with his elbow. "You carry the bags, I'll carry her."

"You sure?"

"She weighs like  3-pound nothin '. I'll be fine." 

"We could just wait for Seokjinnie to-"

"She needs to be in bed. It's okay." The elder crouched and scooped little Hope up into his arms. She whined a little as he jostled her, but settled into the warm, familiar scent with ease, her tiny fists clutching Yoongi's shirt.

They walked, him and Hobi side by side, with Hope wrapped up in Yoongi's leather jacket. They walked in silence, so comfortable they didn't need words. They climbed the stairs with Hobi behind, ready to catch the two if they should fall.

Hobi unlocked his door and shoved the bags inside first, before returning to the doorway for his baby. "Thank you for carrying her." he whispered, as Yoongi poured her into his arms.

"She carries me..." he mumbled, brushing her hair from her eyes. 

Hobi smiled down at her, letting his brother's words warm him. "She carries us all."

Yoongi let his had drop and he whispered to him. "Goodnight, Hobi-ah."

"Goodnight, Hyung. Happy Birthday." 

Yoongi watched Hope  disappear , and heard the door click shut as he turned the key in his own. He paused before he pushed it open. "I love you Hopey." he whispered before stepping inside.

/

The warm water on his skin melted away all the tension. He stepped from the shower and let the trail of droplets follow his every step. Yoongi picked his own sweats to wear, but Jimin's stripy sweater. Not quite his style but  definitely a style he's fallen in love with. 

As he pulled it down over his head, the lightest of Jimin's scent still lingered. He braced himself on the dresser with one palm and pulled the neckline to his nose with the other. He closed his eyes and inhaled...it was faint, but it was still there.

Opening his eyes, it was to a new world; a new hope. 

He swept their photo frame from his bedside table, wandered thoughtlessly with his eyes fixed on their faces. 

His feet took him to his piano, where he set the photo frame beside 'Time' and 'My World'. He smiled up a  candyfloss haired Jimin, as he slid silently onto the bench. For a while he let the moment take him. Time coming to a standstill.

The planets stopped mid  pirouette , the sun and the stars a flattened out into a polaroid picture... still, mottling by the second. The cosmos bowed to him in that moment, as the music swelled within him, and it was released like spark from his fingertips when they met the keys.

He played it as ever; their Fantasie Impromptu...his eyes aflame and his hands mashing down upon the ivories and ebonies; all passion and no real clarity.

The clarity only came as he played the final note, as his forehead played a clunky chord when it dropped down onto the keys. Exhausted, Yoongi's mind wandered the line between sleep and awake.

Each blink of his eyes, he saw a metronome, a tik-tok that resembled a ticking clock. The clock stopped and Yoongi was taken, body and soul to a place where time did not exist.

/

Yoongi blinked into a bright edged dream, the corners smoothed out by the sunlight. It took a good few flutter of his lashes for him to  decipher his location. Even then it didn't seem as it did before; too clean, the air too clear.

Hope waited for him under the spotlight. The beam of light that bled through warehouse windows...where Jimin had once stood. And the room was filled with fireflies, some brighter than others and some in funny colours like rust, aubergine and crimson.

She turned to him as he passed through the lights, and they parted for him like the red sea. "Hope?" he mumbled.

"Hey..." she whispered, her eyes like the Milkyway under all those stars. His eyes traversed the room, from spec to spec.

"What are they?"

"They're paths... All the lives you a  Jiminie could have together, thousands of them... and more are born by the second." Her eyes dropped from the sky to her  uncle's face, glowing like a flame amongst several sparks. "It's up to you to pick the life that you want...follow your heart, Uncle  Yoofie ." 

Yoongi swallowed and he nodded. But in the end, that life came to him. A violet orb that shamed the others, it bobbed on closer. His pianist finger reached out to it curiously, but he didn't touch. He didn't dare. "Which is this?"

Hope smiled, her shoulder dropping in what seemed like relief. "Ahh that one...that is a life of the lowest lows and the most spectacular highs. That is one of lights and  shadows , where your curses will leave the world spellbound, and you will make magic for them to marvel."

"He'll be there too?" Yoongi wandered, the awe swelling like a  crescendo in his eyes.

"Your soulmate will find you." she promised.

"Then I choose it." he decided. "I choose this." 

She laughed, a short affectionate huff of a sound as she willed him on. " So, take it." 

And he did, his palm closing in around it. He took his life into his own hands.

/

Yoongi fell into the new world like he fell out of dream. The world bled of colour in grains like sand and reforming in the bottom half of an hourglass. He woke with a jolt with his forehead pressed to the piano wood, to a room of buttons, screens and light.

A... recording studio, he guessed? At least it looked to be?

As his wiped his drool with his sleeve, his eyes scanned the room for clues. The wall donning the plaque. "BigHit Entertainment?" he wondered. And entertainment company? A recording studio? Was he a producer here?

The door burst open and he leapt to his feet with wide eyes. The boy with the dark hair and the dimples burst in. "Hyung!"

Yoongi's eyes narrowed, his eyes fluttering in his chest. "N-Namjoon?"

The younger cocked his head curiously at Yoongi's astonished tone. "Yeah?"

Yoongi blinked. "Oh-uh...nothing?"

Namjoon blinked back. "Okay...? Well, Manager Sejin asked me to come get you."

"Mana-oh..." Oh, shit, was he an idol? "Uh, why?"

"The new member! He's here!" Namjoon cheered, holding open the door for Yoongi to go before him. The elder did and though weary, it was quite the comfort to have Namjoon by his side as they walked. "I hear he's a dancer," Namjoon mused. "Top in his class. Hobi- Hyung told me he saw him too and that he was cute."

"Hobi..." Yoongi murmured. And as they arrived at the dance studio, he was met with an array of familiar faces. Each rounded with puppy fat but recognisable nonetheless. Hobi, Seokjin, Jungkook, Taehyung... the only one missing was...

"Hyung!" Tae called excitedly. "Come look at him! He's called Park Jimin!"

The world came to a standstill. 

Yoongi moved forward at a snail's pace, his own, young, round face reflected in the window pane as he gazed upon the prettiest sight. Jimin danced not quite as he remembered. Whilst he was still fluid like water, there was a new found grit to his movements, his cap on backward, his cheeks chubby. He looked quite the little hip-hop prince. 

But it was still Jimin. The light in his eyes, the passion in each sweep of his arm. It was unmistakable. And Yoongi found himself exploding into the dance studio before he had realised his feet were moving.

The crash of the door had the younger stumbling from his flow, and one of the elders in the room cut the music.

"Well, Yoongi-yah, I was going to introduce you all after practice, but seeing as you are so enthusiastic." he brought Jimin forward, the younger a little shy but meeting their eyes regardless. "This is Park Jimin. Our final member."

Jimin's eyes met Yoongi's and something moved, a small vibration like the chime of metal on metal. But no words of consequence were exchanged. Just a bow and an  awkward introduction. "Hello. Nice to meet you, I'm Park Jimin."

/

The next month was myriad of  setbacks and mountains for the seven of them and Jimin was working so hard to catch up, he was barely eating or sleeping at all. At first, they tried him as a rapper, but when he fell down at each hurdle Yoongi insisted; "Then he has to sing."

So  insistent was Yoongi to keep him, he threatened to quit on multiple occasions, if the seven weren't allowed to remain as one. 

But, with blood, sweat and tears...they got there. Their debut was announced. They lay sprawled across the dance studio after, sweaty, exhausted... and realised they still weren't as ready as they would like. 

"I don't even have my name yet." Hobi complained, his steamy temple pressed against the white wall. "They said maybe J-Move?"

"No..." Yoongi murmured. "How about J-Hope?" 

"J-Hope?" 

Jin lifted his head. "I like that."

"Me too." Jimin beamed. "You have the brightest smile Hyungie, it makes sense."

Yoongi's moved to the younger slowly, watched that smile bloom and thought: _ It's a lie. Yours is the brightest in the  _ _ room... _

He was caught mid-thought as Jimin turned toward him, his eyes all a-glimmer with something unfathomable. Yoongi tore his eyes away. "I'll be right back..." he murmured to them all. "Toilet..."

They let him go with a few nods and a collective murmur, and Yoongi left with the door closed quietly behind him. In the hallway, he took a deep breath, attempting to soothe his shaking palms. Yoongi pulled Jimin's striped sweater down over his arms. "Come on..." he murmured. "Get  a hold of yourself..."

"I see you're still wearing my sweater, baby." 

Yoongi stopped dead, he turned back slowly, his heart hammering like brass band in his chest. Heart swelling like a  string quartet. 

Jimin's face, already thinning, was fixed with the most unabashed adoration. "Jimin-ah?"

He nodded. "Yeah..."

"Mine? My-my baby boy? Are you... you're my Jimin?"

"Your Jimin. I'm yours." he promised with a wistful smile. He took two steps forward closing the gap between them a little more. "And now, for the final question. Do you love me?"

Time stopped, with his world before him. "Jimin, I-" he breathed, his eyes welling with unshed tears. "Of course I fucking love you."

Jimin closed his eyes, two droplets tumbling down his full cheeks. Yoongi gathered those cheeks between his hands and he kissed him, kissed him like he'd never get another chance, and Jimin clung to him like sailor to a raft. Like he was clinging to breath. When the air was too little, Yoongi pressed his forehead to Jimin's shoulder and sobbed, holding him close but careful, as though he would crumble away if he moved.

"It's okay...it's okay, I'm here now... I'm back."

The door clicked open behind him, and it was Kookie who spoke first as they filed out. "What's wrong with Hyung?"

Jimin shook his head as Hobi and Jin came either side to rub Yoongi's back... Namjoon approached too. "Is he stressed?" he worried.

Jimin shook his head twice. "No. .. he's just relived, I think?"

"For the debut?" Tae wondered. "Ah! Me too Hyungie! I'm glad. Don't cry."

"Everybody, come here." Namjoon murmured, calling them all in to surround him. They held onto each other, held themselves together. " Let's make an oath. We'll never give in. Not one of us will be left behind. We take care of each other from this day forward. We're family. Okay?"

"Okay." they  chorused .

"Bangtan, fighting!"

"FIGHTING!"

/

(Seven Years Later)

The glare of the camera lights was as blinding as the spotlight the world had put them under. Seven years together, three of turmoil, four of flight. They were flying now, together with ARMY.

"Yoongi," the journalist asked, tucking a strand of dark hair behind her ear. "They hail you the lucky charm of BTS. In the past, when things were worse, how did you keep on dreaming and striving for more."

Yoongi smirked staring down at his perfectly fitted slacks "There were struggles, more than we care to admit. But the  shadows only ever exist because there is light. And no matter how hard times have been, we've always had each other, we've always had music, we've always had ARMY." he smiled, so wide that his cheeks pushed his eyes into half-moons. "No matter what we've always had Hope." 

"AH J-HOPE!" Kookie called, triggering a domino effect of echoes and cackles. But amongst all the din, Yoongi's eyes met Jimin's, and beneath the table, their fingers weaved together, pulled hopelessly together like magnets.

Their eyes moved up once more, back behind the camera where the woman in pink beamed a  heart-shaped smile. Hope...indeed, was always with them.

Hope would follow them the rest of their lives. Not only for the lovers, she looked over the rest too. Kim Namjoon, Kim Seokjin, Min Yoongi, Jung Hoseok, Park Jimin, Kim Taehyung and Jeon Jungkook.... Through time, space, the cosmos; They were, as ever, the world's Hope.

They were, as ever, entwined.

/

###  _A ripple in time,_

_Pushing waves out into the universe,_

_Pushing him onto the shore,_

_Where the jagged rocks feel like home._

_The beat of my body smooths the edges,_

_The beat of my heart has him crumbled._

_We built castles of sand with what remained,_

_Walls which were tall but frail,_

_The waves crashed in, they all tumbled down,_

_We saw the stars once more._

**Author's Note:**

> Comments make my heart happy <3


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